. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture. 20 BULLETIN 640, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. as soon as they began to turn white from green in the final ripening process, and the larvae, numbering from 2 to 8, were able to become nearly full grown by the time the cherries had turned red. The pulp surrounding the beans varies from two to seven fifteenths of an inch in thickness, or is scarcely thicker than the well-grown larva of the fruit fly (see fig. 30, p. 39). Therefore, by the time the cherry is ordi- narily ready for harvesting, the larvae have devoured practically al
. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture. 20 BULLETIN 640, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. as soon as they began to turn white from green in the final ripening process, and the larvae, numbering from 2 to 8, were able to become nearly full grown by the time the cherries had turned red. The pulp surrounding the beans varies from two to seven fifteenths of an inch in thickness, or is scarcely thicker than the well-grown larva of the fruit fly (see fig. 30, p. 39). Therefore, by the time the cherry is ordi- narily ready for harvesting, the larvae have devoured practically all the pulp, leaving the seeds hanging more or less loosely within a sack comprised of the thin skin of the cherry. If the weather happens to be dry, the skin shrivels and hardens about the beans and the cherry remains on the branch indefinitely and resembles those killed by disease. However, should the harvesting season be rainy, the skin decays rap- idly, and under the weight of the beans the cherry falls to the ground. A slight j ar may at such times cause many cherries to fall to the ground, where they are lost. This type of loss ne- cessitates extra pickings and greater cost for labor. Since the successful intro- duction of parasites the fruit fly has been so re- duced in the coffee field that the infestation of cherries occurs so late in the ripening process that extra packings are not necessary, and the cherries on reaching the pulping mills during the height of the harvesting season contain chiefly eggs or young larvas which have not had an opportunity to reduce the pulp. Badly infested cherries do not pulp as readily when run through the pulping mill, and naturally weigh much less than sound cherries. (Fig. 16.) The loss in number of cherries in a given weight of badly infested fruit has been found to vary at times from 27 to 59 per cent. This loss in weight, which takes place only in the worthless pulp, and in no way affects the bean, which alone is of commercial value
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