MISCELLA.NEOUS PAPERS. 311 



Many opinions have been heard, many articles have been written, 

 many a wise head has racked its brains over this question, and yet it 

 remains unsettled. 



The aphis is supposed to originate from a fly, which, so far as we 

 know, has no name. We sometimes see the woody substance deposited 

 on the outside of trees, on the limbs, on the body of the tree, or about 

 knots, but more frequently about the roots. Encased in that woody 

 substance is a little insect hardly discernible with the naked eye, but 

 on applying the magnifying glass it is found to be an insect, triangular 

 in shape, having a proboscis something in the shape of a mosquito, 

 through which it sucks the sap from the root and causes decay and 

 death. 



I have tried to exterminate it in my orchard for two years or more, 

 and have tried lime, ashes, soft soap and thorough cultivation, and 

 while I have partially succeeded, yet it is not a complete success ; but 

 the effect of the remedy has been to start the tree to growing and 

 give it new life, which enables it to resist the disease while the effect 

 of the remedy lasts. I think the time will come, and is not far distant, 

 when a successful remedy will be made known. 



Mr. Bill, a member of the Benton County Horticultural Associa- 

 tion, of Benton county. Ark., thinks he has already discovered a rem- 

 edy. I will give you his prescription : 



1 gal. soft soap, 1 qt. lime, 1 lb. salt, 1 pt. coal oil, 1 lb. sulphur, 1 

 oz. carbolic acid, diluted with 6 qts. of water. To an ordinary-sized 

 tree apply a quart about the roots, after raking away the soil. 



He does not say the aphis entirely disappeared, but that in some 

 -cases it banished them, and in other cases the ravages were checked. 

 He does not say what the conditions were in either case. I shall be 

 interested in hearing more from that gentleman. I attended the horti- 

 cultural association of the state of Arkansas, held at Springdale on 

 the I8th, and met one gentleman who had looked over the United 

 States and apart of Arkansas for a remedy, and had discovered that 1 

 part soft soap and 5 parts turpentine applied lo the roots in small 

 quantities was sure to kill — not the tree but the aphis. 



It will not be very expensive to try, one or both of these reme- 

 dies on a few trees and satisfy ourselves; but one thing is certain :that 

 when so many men of ability are looking after this thing and are will- 

 ing to give their experience free of charge, we are not left without 

 hopes that some one will soon discover a remedy that will, beyond a 

 doubt, destroy Mr. Aphis, 



[ Since the meeting, we were talking with A. C. Weymouth of 

 Purdy, who has been successfully experimenting for some time past, 

 and promises us the result in the near future. — Ed.] 



