WHITE WOOLLY CURRANT SCALE. 309 



mention the senders having known of the presence of the in- 

 festation for two, five, or six years previously, though they did 

 not know its name. These Currant attacks, with the exception 

 of the infestation at Wakefield and Huddersfield (and that at 

 Ballater, which is not very far inland), were observed on or 

 near the sea-coast on the East of Scotland, namely, in the 

 neighbourhood of Banff, Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Arbroath, 

 Edinburgh, and Berwick-on-Tweed. 



Prevention and Remedies. — The plants, or parts of plants, 

 most affected (where specially reported) 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 

 M'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-soap and sulphur applications 

 would not fail to kill the minute larva3 straying in crowds over 

 the bushes. But where remedies could not be brought to 



