MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

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Number 84 April, 1921 
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TRUCK CROP INSECT INVESTIGATIONS — | 
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F. H. Chittenden, Entomologist in Charge... , j 
W. H. White has recently made two trips into the early potato regio 
of Virginia and Maryland, for the purpose of investigating an outbreak of 
the seed-corn maggot or bean fly in its attack on new potatoes. The 
injury to potatoes is due only partially to the attack of the seed-corn 
maggot, being complicated by an outbreak of a fungus belonging to the 
genus Fusarium, which appears at times to follow the attack of the maggot, 
while in other cases it acts singly and independently. Investigations to- 
wards the northern portion of the Maryland peninsula indicate that the 
fungus alone is a material factor in the damags, while the insect injury is 
predominant on the mainland, evidently being alone responsible in many 
cases. The fly of the seed-corn maggot ig attracted to the potato field by 
decaying organic matter used in fertilizers, such as fish, tankage, and 
dried blood, as is also the case in fields in which kale and crimson 
clover have been plowed under. 
J. KE. Graf, in charge of the field work in Mexican bean bestle control, 
reports that the late frost which reached Birmingham, Ala., killed growing 
beans to the ground over almost the entire infested territory, but the 
severe frost seems to have caused no reduction whatever in the numbers of 
the beetles. Inspection work and regional quarantine measures have been begun ~ 
in preparation for the Federal Horticultural Board Quarantine effective May 1. 
B. G. Sitton, inspector of the State Plant Board of Alabama, has been 
appointed for a temporary period to organize and secure the thorough 
cooperation of the railroads and other common carriers of the State of 
Alabama with the United States Department of Agriculture with reference 
to the enforcement of the Federal Horticultural Board Quarantine No. 50. 
The following have been appointed to act as district inspectors in 
connection with the enforcement of Quarantine No. 50 against the Mexican 
bean beetle: Fred P. Bickley, T. F. Catchings, F. R. White, L. W. Brannon, 
M. H. Atwood, 0. Z. Smith, and H. B. Lancaster. 
James R. Douglass, of Clemson College, S. C., has accepted an appoint- 
ment to assist Neale F. Howard in research work against the Mexican bean 
beetle. 
W. A. Thomas has been appointed to investigate truck crop insects in 
the vicinity of Chadbourn, N. C., at which point he will be stationed. It 
will be remembered that Mr. Thomas acted as Extension Entomologist during 
the recent war. 
