78 



Pescott (E. E.). Orchard and Garden Notes. — Jl. Dept. Agric. 

 Victoria, Melbourne, October 1914, xii. pt. 10, pp. 637-639. 

 In October, nicotine sprays should be used to combat peach aphis. 

 Aphis amygdali, Fons., pear and cherry slug, Eriocampoides cerasi, L. 

 Lead arsenate should not be used for the latter if the cherries are within 

 a month of ripening. Tobacco water or hellebore is quite as effective 

 as lead arsenate. The first spraying with lead arsenate for codling^ 

 moth, Cydia pomonella, should be followed by a second, a week or ten 

 days later. A strong tobacco spray will check the rose-aphis, and 

 lead arsenate or Paris green spraying will suppress leaf-rolling and 

 leaf-eating insects. 



French (C, Junr.). Cut Worms. — [Reprinted and revised from Jl. Dept. 

 Agric, Victoria, July 1911, pp. 455-458.] October 1914, pp. 1-13^ 

 2 pis., 3 figs. 



There are at least two broods of cutworm moths in a season in 

 Victoria. Poisoned baits [see this Review, A, ii, pp. 23-24] have given 

 excellent results, and recent tests have proved the following to be a 

 successful formula : 1 lb. sodium arsenite and 8 lb. treacle or brown 

 sugar dissolved in 10 gals, water and mixed with chopped lucerne or 

 other green stuff ; this should be moistened, but not made too wet. 

 Spraymg bunches of clover and other succulent vegetation with 2 lb. 

 lead arsenate to 50 gals, water and scattering these on plants liable to 

 attack, has proved successful ; for vegetable gardens three or four 

 bushels of finely powdered lime mixed with one bushel of soot and 

 sprinkled around infested plants, is recommended. There are many 

 natural enemies, including insectivorous birds, which check cutworms. 

 The Sphegid, Ammophila instabilis, was a valuable destroyer of cut- 

 worms in their recent serious attacks in N. Victoria ; ground beetles^ 

 especially Calosoma schayeri, several species of parasitic Hymenoptera, 

 Tachinid flies, ants and a bacterial disease also attack them. In 

 vineyaids, two systems have been largely used to protect the vine : 

 spraying with lead arsenate in suspension in water, 3 lb. of arsenate 

 to 50 gals, water, applied when the larvae first hatch out ; and the use 

 of poison baits placed close to the young vines, which is a good method 

 when the cutworms appear before the vine foliage. The following 

 formula has given good results : bran 10 lb., molasses 4 lb., Paris 

 green 4 oz., the whole to be made into a paste and scattered in small 

 pieces about the size of a nut close to the young vine. These baits 

 are useless when dried up and should be removed to avoid injuring 

 the soil ; in one instance many vines died from arsenical poisoning 

 when this was neglected. The soya bean or other plant readily eaten 

 by cutworms, might be planted on either side of the vines and sprayed. 

 The growing-bait method [see this Review, A, i, pp. 513-514] is des- 

 cribed. 



Wardle (R. a.). Preliminary Observations upon the Life-histories of 



Zenillia pexops, B. & B., and Hypamblys albopictus, Grav. — Jl. 



Econ. Biology, London, ix, no. 3, October 1914, pp. 85-103, 3 pl8.» 



1 fig. 2 tables. 



Investigations during 1913 on the large larch sawfly, Nematus 



erichsoni, Htg., showed a great reduction in the numbers of Mesoleius 



