GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT SCALE. 113 



same date, a piece of Gooseberry branch, -which had been cut 

 and kept under cover for some time, was sprinkled over with 

 multitudes of the young larval scales. These were scattered 

 in scores, or rather in hundreds, over every part of the 

 branch excepting the withered leaves, but were then dead from 

 the branch having ceased to supply requisite sap. The marked 

 difference in amount was presumably from the young scales 

 being washed off in out-of-door circumstances, or destroyed 

 by rain, and also being preyed on by small insect-feeding 

 beetles, &c., as there were plentiful remains of egg pellicles. 



Prevention and Kemedies. — Looking at the manner in 

 which the scales shelter themselves where ragged bark is 

 peeling back on old wood, it is obvious that robbing them of 

 these head-quarters so far as could be managed could not fail 

 to be of service ; and next to this, such treatment of the 

 bushes as would allow of not only spraying the infested 

 boughs, but of wash being run down them to lodge amongst 

 rough bark, and would also allow of the oldest of the infested 

 parts, where there was no fear of rubbing off buds, being well 

 brushed with soap mixtures. 



Much might thus be done by well considered pruning ; but 

 at the same time the pruned-off branches should be most 

 carefully removed and burnt. The little larval scales, though 

 hardly discernible without a magnifier, are actively on foot as 

 early as February, and may perfectly easily wander back from 

 the removed branches if these are left beneath the bushes. 



Where Currants are trained in long rods on walls, these 

 require attention, and perhaps a rod occasionally taken out, 

 down to the root. In my own garden I have found the scales 

 in patches at intervals on a length of several feet of White 

 Currant. 



In a communication from one of my correspondents, he 

 mentioned (writing on the 20th of February) that he had 

 had his infested Gooseberry bushes sprayed with " Chiswick 

 Compound," and found it effectual; and in a further com- 

 munication, a little more than a month later, he added, "I 

 found the Chiswick Compound very effective in destroying 

 scale." Probably this would be as serviceable an application 

 as could be found, as it is a mixture of soft-soap and sulphur, 

 which act well against these kinds of bark infestations, and 

 it has the advantage of the sulphur becoming soluble (so as 

 to be completely mixed with the wash) in from sixteen to 

 twenty-four hours after the requisite amount of hot water to 

 dilute the mixture to a safe strength has been added. 



The mixture is procurable from the Chiswick Soap Com- 

 pany, Chiswick, Middlesex, and is very similar in composition 



