264 VILLA GARDENING part hi 



regards the struggle with insects, health and vigoiu' are the best 

 antidotes, for vermin usually fight shy of a healthy tree. It is 

 when the condition of the tree has been lowered by bad manage- 

 ment that insects become so troublesome. The aphis family, the 

 black and green flies, are very injimous, and, if neglected, very 

 diflicult to deal wath, because they entrench themselves as it were 

 in the ciuled-uij foliage, where washes from the syringe cannot 

 jjenetrate. Winter dressings of insecticide are very usefid. I still 

 use Gishurst compound ; it is cheap, cleanly, and efticient. 

 Perhaps among the more recent introductions there may be some- 

 thing better ; but at present I have not met with anything. We 

 use it by dissolving from 4 to 6 ounces in a gallon of warm water, 

 and it is used when it cools down to about 90°. A brush is used 

 for the thick branches, the young wood being washed with a 

 sponge. This may be done any time before the buds become too 

 prominent. As the season advances a constant watch should be 

 kept, and if any insects appear, as sometimes they do, before the 

 fruit is set, dust some Tobacco powder among the leaves and 

 flowers. Later on it will be as well to use the powder, sometimes 

 as a preventive, for the aphides dislike the smell of Tobacco. 

 Two or three times diuring the gTowing season much benefit will 

 arise from washing the trees with a weak solution of soft soap, or 

 the soap suds from the laundry will be beneficial, applied with the 

 syringe or engine. In bad cases tobacco liquor constitutes, with 

 the powder above-named, a remedy that cannot easily be surpassed. 

 This liquor can be obtained from the tobacco manufacturer at Is. 

 per gallon, and a gallon of it will make 6 gallons of wash, wdth a 

 pound of soft soap added. Some use in addition, or alone, a 

 quarter of a pint of paraflin oil. The oil and soap will blend at 

 a low temperature, or when exposed for some time (several hoiu-s) 

 to a temperature below freezing-point. 



The Red Spider is a troublesome little fellow on light soils and 

 in hot seasons. Water is the best remedy if used in time. Sul- 

 l)hur mixed in small quantities with the water will banish red 

 spider, and is efiectual in all forms of mildew. The way to apply 

 it is to mix a small haudfid of sulphur with water in a saucer or 

 basin into a paste, and then it will readily mix with a larger bulk 

 of water. On dry soils, much subject to mildew and spider, it is 

 better to use a little sulphm- occasionally as a preventive, whether 

 these pests are present or not. 



Blister and C^ui are the result of cold, and the cure will be 

 found in more shelter. Peach trees slioidd never be planted in a 

 cold draughty place, as they will not succeed till by some means 

 or other the cold ciurrent has been stayed. Screens of reeds have 



