Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature StudyOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study
Ontario. Department of Education
Nature study; Science -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- Ontario
Certain districts in Ontario and especially those bordering on Lake Erie
have suffered from the ravages of this scale on apple, peach, pear, and
other orchard trees. A hand lens should be used in studying these
insects, observations being carried on from May to September.
Carefully examine the fruits and twigs of orchard trees for evidences of
the presence of the scale, and learn to identify it and to recognize the
damages resulting from its attacks.
Observe the almost circular flat scale of a grayish colour and having a
minute point projecting upward at its centre. The young insects which
emerge from underneath these scales in the spring crawl around for a
time, then become stationary, and each one secretes a scale under which
it matures. The mature males have two wings but the mature females are
wingless. Note the withering of fruit and twigs due to the insects'
attacks and the minute openings in the skin of the twig, made by the
insertion of the sucking mouth parts.
Describe to the pupils how the insect was transported from Japan to
America and how it is now spread on nursery stock. Give a brief account
of its destructiveness in the orchards of Essex and Kent.
(Consult _Bulletin No. 153, Common Insects Affecting Fruit
Trees and Fungus Diseases Affecting Fruit Trees_. Bethune &
Jarvis, Department of Agriculture, Toronto, free.)
OYSTER-SHELL BARK-LOUSE
This is very common throughout the Province on apple and pear trees.
Observe the unhealthy appearance of the leaves of the infested trees,
the inferior quality of the fruit, and the gray scales shaped like tiny
oyster-shells.
The means of destroying these pests should be discussed. The Bulletins
named above give detailed information in reference to spraying and
fumigation.
CUTWORMS
(Consult _Bulletin 52_, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa.)
Cutworms are the larvae of medium-sized brown moths that fly at night.
There are many species of cutworms, all of which are destructive to some
forms of plants or grasses, grains, and vegetables.
The larvae are rather thick, naked, worm-like forms. They burrow into the
ground, but emerge at night to feed by cutting through the stems of
tender plants or by feeding upon the leaves. For the most effective
method of dealing with these refer to what is said on "Combating Garden
Pests", Form II.
When a field is known to be infested with cutworms, it is a good plan to
spread poisoned clover or cabbage leaves over the ground before the seed
is planted.
WHITE GRUBS
White grubs are large, fat, white larvae of June beetles. These beetles
are the well-known large, brown, clumsy beetles that blunder into the
house at night in May or June and drop with a thud upon the floor.
Three years are spent in the larval form, the grubs living underground
and feeding on the roots of plants, especially the roots of grains and
grasses.
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