INSECTICIDES AND GENERAL REMEDIES. 409 



The method of digging between rows of plants in autumn has a 

 very marked effect in producing greater growth, and thus lessening 

 insect attack. Mr J. W. Eobson, nurseryman, Hexham, — a nursery- 

 man of nearly fifty years' experience, — informs me that he has often 

 experimented with autumn and winter digging as a means of stim- 

 ulating growth and lessening insect attacks. By taking a plot of 

 plants, say thorns, and digging and leaving undug alternate patches, 

 he has found that the undug portions made less growth and suffered 

 heavily from green-fly, whereas the dug portions made long shoots of 

 growth and were practically untouched by insects. By autumn dig- 

 ging, too, the frost pulverises the soil, and facilitates the subsequent 

 summer cleaning. 



It often happens that many plots of hardwood in the nursery are 

 very much injured by insects. For example, ash plants at three 

 years of age (that is, two years in seed-bed and one year in nursery- 

 line) are injured by Prays ciirtisellus and other insects — so much so 

 that, with forked and bushy tops, they are practically useless. This 

 may be got over by cutting down to the ground in early spring, and 

 then giving sufficient attention to see that the plants spring away 

 with only a single shoot. The result is that we get very good, 

 healthy plants. 



There are several other points which may be attended to with very 

 beneficial results, as, for example, burning of all prunings of hedges, 

 holly bushes, yews, &c. In the growing of fruit-trees, certain var- 

 ieties assert themselves as being practically immune from such direful 

 pests as American blight and mussel scale, and perhaps this suggests 

 the advisability of attending to certain species or varieties as regards 

 ornamental trees, shrubs, or willows, (^c. Much might also be done 

 in the way of green cropping, green manuring, and so forth, according 

 to local circumstances or the experience of practical men. 



As regards preventive measures against insects in young woods, it is 

 even more important than in the nursery, inasmuch as the majority of 

 reports against forest insects (although perhaps due to better facilities 

 for observation) come from young woods. In the majority of cases the 

 real cause of injury is primarily due to careless or indifferent planting. 

 Practical men, or men who ought to be practical, will write to news- 

 papers stating that certain areas can be planted for sums which cannot 

 even raise the plants. Seeing that a plantation is for a period of a 

 hundred years, why should it not be properly done? Do what is 



