122 TREE WOUNDS AND DISEASES 



most frequently attacked, though vigorous 

 young trees are by no means exempt from 

 injury. Cutting down and burning badly 

 affected trees is to be recommended. Less 

 severe cases may be dealt with by an application 

 of tar. 



Red spider (Tetranychus) is another formid- 

 able insect pest that not infrequently attacks 

 the leaves of several species of hard-wooded 

 trees, and is often the cause of death of the 

 ivy, particularly when grown as a ground 

 carpet. The leaves turn a rusty-brown colour, 

 crumple up, and finally fall off, the whole 

 plant dying in consequence. Spraying with 

 soft-soap or paraffin emulsions will prevent 

 the insect from spreading, but its eradication 

 is by no means easy. 



Wholesale destruction of the leaves of the 

 spindle tree and other species of euonymus is 

 yearly occasioned by the caterpillar of the 

 small ermine moth, myriads of the caterpillars 

 appearing on the foliage during summer. So 

 rapidly does this insect increase, and so vora- 

 cious is its appetite, that a shrub will be com- 

 pletely stripped of its foliage in two or three 



