CURRANT MITE. 153. 
does not find its way into so many of the crevices of the bark as a 
hard driven spray will do. The whole difficulty lies in the habits of 
the Mites securing shelter to them from all practicable remedy outwardly 
applied, 
** Steady and continuous spraying daily, while the Mites are on the 
move from the old buds to new ones in the early summer, would go a 
long way to free badly-infested bushes from Mites; but it would 
require yearly attention, and I am doubtful, with an easily grown crop 
like Black Currants, if it is worth the cost. In these days of highly paid 
manual labour we have to look very closely at the cost of an operation 
of this kind, and feel sure it is worth it before we employ it on an 
extended scale. 
«The Black Currant is so easily grown from cLEAN cuttings in the 
course of three or four years to good-sized bushes, and bearing freely, 
that the cleaning of old bushes at a considerable cost is not, I think, 
judicious. Much better to clear off the bushes root and branch, and 
burn every morsel of them on the spot. Grow other crops on the land 
till all Black Currant Mites are starved out, and the remedy is complete. 
*(5.) Miaed cropping, or alternate rows of Black Currants and Goose- 
berries. —An excellent method of growing Black Currants, whether 
the mtermiediate crop is Gooseberries, Strawberries, or vegetables, 
because it allows more freedom in dealing with each row of Black 
Currants, and if they should become infested with Mites, there would 
be more room to reach them than when crowded into rows four to six 
feet apart, in the usual way, where men can hardly push their way 
through between them. 
‘‘T have reason to believe that the usual method of close rows, in 
large breaks or quarters of Black Currants, has a good deal to do with 
the bad attack of Mites so often seen on massed bushes; while single 
rows, with free space of some feet or yards between them are less 
infested in the same district. The close rows naturally afford better 
shelter and more breeding ground than detached rows, and hence the 
partial immunity of the latter. 
i ‘Still, after all, if Mites are present in a garden, you are never safe 
to allow them to remain, and think they will not spread! Let a 
favourable season for the Mite come round, and their advance will 
astonish you! It is then too late to apply a remedy that will be worth 
the cost. The proper time is the first sign observed of the presence of 
the Mite. Attack it then, and it may quickly be eaterminated. Let it 
run its course for a season or two, and attempts to clear it off (short 
of burning every infested bush) are more likely to end in failure than 
success. 
‘‘There is little doubt the workers rubbing on the infested bushes 
with their clothes, when the Mites are lively, carry them to clean 
