WHITE WOOLLY CUERANT SCALE. 79 



noticed before the year 1880, and I have not had any further 

 reports of observation since those of 1889. 



Prevention and Eemedy. — Under the circumstances, mea- 

 sures of i)revention seem httle called for ; but it may be 

 worth while to note that the plants, or parts of plants, most 

 affected were bushes nailed to walls, or not fully exposed to 

 light and air, or the under side of branches ; consequently, 

 all measures of good cultivation adapted to keep the branches 

 or the bushes from being crowded up together or overshadowed 

 would be useful, as also keeping a watch on Currant branches 

 nailed to walls, where any infestation which especially affects 

 the sheltered or under side of branches has every chance of 

 establishing itself. 



With regard to remedies, on July 21st, Mr. William 

 ]\['Kenzie wrote me from the gardens under his charge at 

 Glenmuick, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, that in 1880 the garden 

 was visited, by this Currant pest, and as he had never, after 

 a long experience, seen it before, he first tried the common 

 application of soft-soap as a remedy. This proved useless, as 

 also did dilute paraffin oil, which, as Mr. W. M'Kenzie justly 

 remarks, is an application not generally to be recommended, 

 as it may do much harm if not judiciously used. These 

 applications having failed, in the following year (1881) Mr. 

 W. M'Kenzie " applied a dilution of hot lime in the autumn, 

 going over the bushes with a brush (the same process as 

 whitewashing), occasioning the bushes to shed or throw off 

 the bark, and thus effectually curing them of the pest, 

 without in the least injuring the bushes." The proportion 

 used was "two pounds of lime to one gallon of water, being 

 of the same consistency as is used for whitewashing walls." 

 This application Mr. M'Kenzie found to be an effectual and 

 permanent cure, and later on he forwarded me excellent 

 specimens of both White and Bed Currants, gathered off' the 

 previously-mentioned bushes, to show that the remedy had 

 proved thoroughly effective against the infestation, and done 

 no harm to the plants. 



Where only a little of the infestation appears, it would be 

 desirable at once to use the above or some other serviceable 

 application, for if soft-soap alone did not answer, probably 

 some of the common soft-socqj and sulphur applications would 

 not fail to kill the minute larv?e straying in crowds over the 

 bushes, and kerosine emulsion has been found a very success- 

 ful application for destroying the eggs of the allied species, 

 Pulvinaria innumerabilis.^ But where remedies could not be 



* ' Insect Life,' vol. v. p. 103. United States Department of Agriculture, 

 WasliinDton. 



