370 Report OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY OF THE 
INTRODUCTION. 
The general spotting of apple foliage by the leaf blister-mite has 
for several years been of annual occurrence. By reason of its 
conspicuous work in apple orchards, the mite is now regarded by 
our fruit growers as a pest of growing importance to the fruit in- 
terests of this State. With the exception of the San José scale, 
there has been no insect for the past three years which has gener- 
ally attracted more attention or which has provoked more discus- 
sion among growers in western New York, as to its probable de- 
structiveness to apple trees and as to the more efficient methods of 
control, than has this mite. 
The appearance of the blister-mite in the apple orchards of this 
State was announced in Bulletin 283, which directed the attention 
of fruit growers to the effectiveness of oil emulsions, miscible oils 
and the home-made lime-sulphur wash for its control. Since the 
distribution of this bulletin, the Station has continued its experi- 
ments, especially those to determine the value of various sulphur 
sprays for the treatment of the mite, as a basis for more complete 
directions to orchardists who should desire to spray for this pest. 
While special treatments for the mite have been made by rela- 
tively few orchardists, the opinion is generally expressed that it 
would pay to spray rather than to take further chances with the 
worst infested orchards. According to the reports of fruit growers, 
spraying for the mite will be quite generally practiced in many lo- 
calities this coming spring. 
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF MITE. 
DISTRIBUTION AS AN APPLE PEST. 
The work of the mite is now quite common throughout the 
apple-growing sections of western New York. It has been very 
conspicuous in the orchards generally in Orleans, Monroe, Genesee, 
Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Yates, Seneca and Steuben counties. 
Badly diseased leaves have been received by the Station from apple 
orchards at Pattersonville in the Mohawk Valley and from Delmar, 
Voorheesville and Schodack Landing in the Hudson Valley. Mr. 
Percy Huested, a State nursery inspector, has also noted apple trees 
with the leaves much spotted by the mite at Preston Hollow in the 
Catskills. 
Injuries to apple foliage have been recognized in Massachusetts 
and Pennsylvania. Mr. E. Cyrus Miller, Haydenville, Mass., in- 
