e description I am not able to say what it
was, but it was probably one of those gall flies, a great many species
of which exist and which attack all kinds of plants. They do not, as a
rule, cause very serious damage, and I can not suggest any particular
remedy. Did it interfere with the growth of the tree?
A MEMBER: I noticed what seemed to be the same insect on the
grape vines.
DR. MORRIS: I would call attention to one pest that is very
destructive to hazels; unless watched closely it will produce serious
injury. That is the larvae of two of the sawflies. Dr. Britton was
unable to determine off-hand the species of the specimens I sent him,
but you may know the sawfly larvae by their habit of collecting in a row
like soldiers around the edge of the leaf and when the branch is
disturbed, their heads and tails stand up. These sawfly larvae need
looking after and can be killed by spraying. They usually collect on two
or three leaves at a time.
I would like to ask about a bud worm that attacks the leaf of the
hickory near the axil, sometimes very extensively, but not very
injuriously. At the same time it makes deformities. Colonies of this
insect select certain trees, for instance, the Taylor tree that you saw
yesterday is infected with this particular bud larva. The base of a
petiole becomes enlarged two or three times, and you will find one white
worm at the bottom. This colony is confined to this one tree, and the
very next tree adjoining the Taylor has its branches interwining, but is
not bothered at all, so far as I can determine.
This colony habit is also true of the hickory nut weevil--the hickory
weevil makes the Taylor tree a colony house, whereas I haven't found a
single weevil in nuts of the adjoining hickory tree that has its
branches interwining.
That colony habit is, perhaps, a weak point with the weevil, and it may
enable us to eradicate them by concentrating our attention upon their
colony trees.
One point in regard to the chestnut weevil. When our chestnuts began to
die here, I supposed that the chestnut weevils would immediately turn to
my chinquapins for comfort. Weevils attack the chinquapins so
extensively in the South that Mr. Littlepage said chinquapins would not
be acceptable to Dr. Kellogg because they furnished so much animal diet.
(Laughter). Curiously enough, the chestnut weevils did not go to my
chinquapins. These chinquapins bear full crops, heavy crops, and one
will almost never
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