BLACK CURRANT GALL-MITE. 4l 



be found at localities from Devon to near Glasgow, and possibly 

 further north. 



On the 16th of April, Mr. CD. Wise wrote me from the Toddington 

 Fruit Grounds, Winchcombe, Glos. : — "lam having the Phytoptus 

 picked off our Black Currants, and I am sorry to say the women pick 

 baskets f nil.'' This trouble is well worth while, because thus not only the 

 " Gall-Mites " themselves are got rid of, but also vast numbers of eggs, 

 which would soon have sent out new supplies of infestation. Amongst 

 specimens sent me on the 4th of April from Hanbury, near Droitwich, 

 I found the minute white eggs in various stages of development ; some 

 still round or roundish, and others pushed out of shape at one end by 

 the pressure on the thin egg pellicle of the bluntly-pointed head of the 

 Mite within, the locality of the legs of the Mite being also indicated by 

 little knobs, showing the position within of what might be called the 

 shoulders. 



So long as the buds are infested by scores or hundreds of Mites, and 

 their eggs remain on the bushes, it does not appear likely that much 

 good would be done by applications of either fluid or dry dressings, for 

 the Mites would, for the most part, be protected within the sheltering 

 gall leaves. But when all the propagating colonies were removed and 

 destroyed, it might be hoped that soft-soap and sulphur wash (or any 

 other kind preferred) would do great good by destroying all Mites that 

 were travelling on leaves or stems of the bushes. 



Each grower should follow his own experience as to wash that may 

 be useful, but I should incline myself to trial of the soap and sulphur 

 wash introduced in the past season by the " Chiswick Soap Co.," Chis- 

 wick. This is made somewhat, though not exactly, on the lines of the 

 mixture known in South Australia as " Burford's Compound," which 

 was especially recommended by the late Mr. Frazer Crawford 

 (Government Inspector in South Australia under the Vine and Fruit 

 Protection Act, and a most excellent authority) for use against Phytoptus 

 attack. Various forms of application of sulphur wash have been 

 advised, as of sulphur and hme, also of sulphuret of lime with soft- 

 soap; * but one advantage of the soft-soap and sulphur compound of 

 the Chiswick Co. is, that after it lias been mixed with water, and 

 allowed to stand from sixteen to twenty-four hours, the sulphur dissolves, 

 and thus a serviceable wash is attainable without any special arrange- 

 ment for solution of the sulphur. The requisite strength should of 

 course be tested before use on a large scale on different ages of leafage, 

 but when properly managed I have found, in my own garden, that even 

 the delicate early spring leaves of Peaches and Apricots were quite 

 uninjured by spraying with the compound. 



* See my ' 9th Report on Injurious Insects,' p. 35. 



