44 APPLE. 



mentioned," was the cause of great destruction to the Apple 

 crop, and it was remarked : — " The presence of the Psylla on 

 the Apple is alwa3^s indicated hy small opaque saccharine 

 globules (vulgarly named ' honeydew') in and about the stalks 

 of unopened flower-buds ; and if such a sprout be plucked 

 apart, the young, flat, inert, wingless insect will be found in 

 numbers sucking the juices of the stems of the blossoms. 

 The flower-buds, being deprived of their sap, shrivel up, and 

 no Apples are produced ; and the insect, casting its skin, ap- 

 pears in a short time, . . . light green, with transparent 

 wings, active in habit, and leaping all about the tree." 



One difference between this and other Apple infestations is 

 that the Psijlla works so that the mischief may be done before 

 the results are noticeable, at least to a casual observer, the 

 sucking away of the juices sapping the strength of the stems 

 of the blossom-buds, so that, though some may escape, yet 

 the whole cluster of bloom may die without setting fruit. In 

 1891 notes were sent from near Eedditch of this attack so 

 weakening the middle blooms of the trusses, where the 

 "suckers" could shelter themselves from insecticides, that 

 the injured part could be shaken down "like chaff," and the 

 loss was great. 



The attack appears to be of only occasional appearance to 

 a serious extent, and has been only specially reported to my- 

 self in 1890 and 1891, and again in 1897. 



Prevention and Eemedies. — Many of the eggs which are 

 laid towards the ends of the shoots may be removed by winter 

 pruning, and to save chance of future mischief it would be 

 well to burn the prunings. Insecticides such as are sprayed 

 about flowering time for other attacks would kill the insects 

 which they reached on the trusses, but would need care both 

 in selection and strength of application lest they should do 

 more harm than good by destroying the blossom-bud. Con- 

 jecturally soft-soap wash, with some mixture of sulphur or 

 quassia or tobacco, might do good, but the only notes hitherto 

 sent on of trial of insecticides were tbat they had little effect. 



Some good was done in a small scale of growing by shaking 

 shoots with infested trusses over an old umbrella placed wrong 

 way up below, and daubed inside with adhesive mixture. 

 From the habit of the insects of flying out on disturbance, 

 many fall down and are captured. This plan might be used 

 on an enlarged scale by placing tarred cloth beneath the 

 trees and shaking the boughs. 



Another method of lessening number of the insects which 

 was found to answer also by Mr. J. Hiam (who has devoted 

 much attention to this infestation) in the neighbourhood of 



