Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-02-26


Charles D. Woods, directors Of the Maine
Agricultural Experiment station:
Several years ago requests for informa-
ton concerning this insect came to the
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station
In a manner that indicated that an econ
omic situation was involved which would
merit investigation.
Under the present policy Of this Sta
ton a Summer Staff of Special Entomo-
logists is maintained to carry on particu-
lar kinds Of insect work, which can be
handled during the summer months. AS
a member of this staff, Mr.. William c.
Woods, of Cornell University, was dele
gated to the study of the BURBERRY in
sects Of Maine. A bulletin devoted to
these is in press and the following are
extracts from that part which concerns
the BURBERRY maggot. which by the way
Is the same insect as that troublesome
pest the apple maggot. a surprising fact
discovered during the process of this in
vestigation.
Most important Of the insects affecting
the BURBERRY and the one around which
the chief economic interest centers is
the ordinary apple maggot or railroad
worm. In Maino this fly Is so far as the
blueberry Is concerned apparently is re-
stricted to the barrens of Washington
county although as an apple pest this
species Is wide spread ard troublesome
Throughout the State. Mid-Jul, Is tire
tine during which the adults begin to
appear on the plains These are beauti-
full little black flies with banded wings.
Although the total number Of individuals
on the whole extent OF the barrens must
be very large they are no where very
abundant and catch of so many as % is
q large days work Of eight or nine con-
tinuous hours. for usually but IL or 10 or
even fewer can be found in that time
Presumably the habits of the fly in re-
lation to the BURBERRY are in general
similar to it's habits on the apple. There
Is, however, the striking difference.
Whereas on the apple the flies are slug
gish and tame so that it is easy to watch
opposition in the field, on the BURBERRY
they are alert and shy and oviposition in
the field was not once observed during
the several seasons of this investigation.
The adults suddenly appear on the ber-
| ries seemingly as if they had just sprung
into existence, and are so suspicious that
1t is no easy task to take them captive.
a. decided contrast to the larger, less ac-
tive. and easily taken apple flies.
Eggs deposited in the berries during
August hatch into white maggots which
become full grown in about two weeks
and enter the soil to pupate. spending the
winter as puparia and emerging as adult
flies in the course of the succeeding sum-
mer
| The adults are restless in confinement
and it is hard to keep them alive. Even
when supplied with food daily and with
water every few hours, the flies die in
about three weeks. The process of owl
position was observed once only. Then
it took place just as has been described
for the fly Of the apple maggot The fly
walked over the surface Of the berry and
finally stopped, head downward. Lifting
her abdomen, she thrust out her ovipositor
and made a slit at an angle of As degrees
in which she deposited single egg just
below the surface. This occupied about
two minutes. Unfortunately this egg did
not develop. The egg period in the blue
| berry probably does not exceed two or
three days.
| At all events these data are sufficient to
show that in the case of the BURBERRY
maggot as with the apple maggot, the
egg is deposited directly in the berry
and not in the blossom as is the prevail
ing idea on the barrens, for the adults
do not emergs until fully six weeks after
| the bushes have Powered.
Although when the maggots are small,
| an infested berry cannot be distinguished
| by sight from a sound one, in any case,
| even when the larvae are very small.
fruit which has been attacked can easily
| be determined by the touch. for it feels
soft and mushy. The pulp becomes red
and stringy and by the time the larva
| is half grown, the fruit becomes much
shriveled.
While the actual number of maggots
! in $4,000 acres literally blue with berries
must be very large, ordinarily only an In
significant proportion of the fruit is in
tested. This was the case in 1913. when
| the crop was fairly large, and though the
maggots were abundant, only from 1 to
| per cent of the crop had been attacked.
| But in 1914, though the larvae were far
less numerous, so small was the yield
that from to 10 per cent of the fruit
was maggoty: Conditions were much the
same in 1915, owing to a short berry crop,
although as this insect is distributed
more or less totally on the plains. it is
hard to make even an approximate esti-
mate.
No measures aimed at complete con-
troll of this pest would prove really prac-
ticable, and in an ordinary yield no elab-
crate system Of control is needed. The
| maggot could never be exterminated In
so vast an area Of wild land, most Of it
| remote from any town and broken up by
swamps, lakes and occasional forest
tracks, even If concerted efforts were
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