424 TRANSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 



Land, larch wlien mixed with beech, remains, as a rule, singularly 

 free from the attacks of the insect. 



It seems, thex-efore, highly desirable that Scottish foresters 

 should direct their closest attention to this matter, and, if the 

 result be that Professor Blachmann's observations are confirmed, 

 it will clearly demonstrate that spruce should not be grown in 

 the vicinity of larch woods ; and, more especially, they should not 

 be allowed to grow near the nurseries where larch plants are 

 raised. In many cases it may be jiossible to remove and destroy 

 the spruce galls before the females have left them, and if young 

 spi'uce trees are seen to be infested with the insects, the galls 

 should be promptly picked off them while fi'esh, and burned to 

 destroy the vermin. By taking proper precautions to clear the 

 galls off young trees as soon as they are observed, and to avoid 

 planting larch and spruce in the same plantation, or in the vicinity 

 of each other, the injurious attacks of this notorious pest will be 

 very much lessened, if not entirely stamped out in course of time, 

 in many localities where it has hitherto been the ruin of all larch 

 trees. 



The suVjject is of such vital importance to the successful culti- 

 vation of the larch in many parts of the country, that it deserves 

 to receive the most careful attention and closest observation of 

 every forester and entomologist. Should a close study of the 

 life-history of the CJiermes laricis prove that in its transitions it 

 requires to change from the s^jruce to the larch, and vice versa, in 

 the various phases of its life, a discovery of great value to forestry 

 in Britain will be made, and thereby the profitable cultivation of 

 the larch will be vastly extended. 



