APPLE. 



lurking-places, or, if they do exist, will allow of these points 

 of attack being carefully watched. Boughs must be removed 

 in pruning sometimes, and where the Woolly Aphis exists it 

 is certain to try to effect a lodgment under the ring of young 

 bark that comes rolling forward over the stump ; but an eye 

 to this matter, and a few strong soap-suds brushed on the first 

 bit of wool seen, will keep all right ; whilst on trees with the 

 boughs maimed by beating the crop off, bad pruning, pieces 

 torn off by the wind, &c., the aphis gets such a hold in the 

 rough bark as can hardly be got over. 



With regard to remedies : — The colonies of insects remain 

 in one place, and soon die if their food is cut off or their 

 breathing-pores choked ; so that anything which will give such 

 a taint to their harbouring places that they cannot feed will 

 do good. Soft-soap, tar, or, in fact, anytMng oily, (jreasii, or 

 sticky tliat can he well rubbed on, and which, by adhering for 

 a time, will choke all the aphides that it touches, will be of 

 use, and amongst these applications tar, being often at hand 

 ready for use, may answer the purpose where nothing else 

 would be used. But it should always be remembered, though 

 this application may not do harm where old thick bark pre- 

 vents it oozing or melting (in sunshine) into the living tissues 

 of the tree, or, again, might be perfectly safe on the blight- 

 tumours of old trees, it would probably be very injurious on 

 young bark that is still living and in an active state. 



Amongst the vast number of applications which are on 

 record as answering for getting rid of this attack, probabl}' 

 the following recipe, with which I was favoured by Mr. Malcolm 

 Dunn, writing from The Gardens, Dalkeith, N.B., would be 

 found to meet all requisites with little trouble or expense : — 



'* I find soft-soap an excellent insecticide wherever it can 

 be applied with safety to the plant ; made into a thick lather, 

 and applied with a stiff brush to the stems of Apple trees in- 

 fested with American Blight, it is a certain remedy. 



" In the winter, when the trees are at rest, it may be 

 applied all over the tree, and if the roots are uncovered from 

 the base of the stem onwards, as far as it is easy to get at 

 them also, the treatment will go far to stamp out the pest. 

 Even a thorough soaking of the soil in which the roots run, 

 with strong soap-suds, repeated a few times during winter, is 

 a first-rate means of keeping down American Blight. Of 

 course the soft-soap must not be applied (as above) to green 

 leaves or bark ; it is so caustic that it invariably burns them, 

 especially if the sun strikes on the soap ; therefore it must be 

 used with caution in summer." — (M. D.) 



The above recipe is particularly serviceable in cases of 

 American Blight ibeing established at roots of Apple trees. 



