214 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



females, and reach maturity in ten or 

 twelve days, when they commence to 

 give birth to living young, producing 

 about two daily for two or three weeks, 

 after which the older ones die. The 

 young locate themselves about tlieir 

 parents as closely as they can stow 

 themselves, and they also mature and 

 become mothers in ten or twelve days, 

 and are as ])rolific as their predecessors. 

 " The leaves of trees infested by these 

 insects become distorted and twisted 

 backwards, often with their tips press 

 ng against the twig from which they 

 grow, and they thus form a covering 

 for the aphides, protecting them from 

 the rain. An infested tree may be dis- 

 tinguished some distance by the bend- 

 ing back of the leaves and young twigs. 

 It is stated that the scab on the fruit 

 of the apple tree often owes its origin 

 to the punctures of these plant lice. 

 This species, which was originally im- 

 ported from Europe, is now found in 

 apple orchards all over the United 

 States and Canada, 



Remedies. — Scraping the dead bark 

 off the trees during winter, and wash- 

 ing them with a solution of soft soap 

 and soda, would be beneficial by de- 

 stroying the eggs. Syringing the trees 

 about the time the buds are bursting, 

 with strong soap-suds and weak lye, or 

 tobacco water, the latter made by boil- 

 ing one pound of the rough stems or 

 leaves in a gallon of water, will destroy 

 a large number of the young lice. A 

 frost occurring after a few days of warm 

 weather will kill millions of them ; in 

 the egg state the insects can endure any 

 amount of frost, but the young aphis 

 quickly perishes when the temperature 

 falls below the freezing point." 



The author describes a number of 

 parasites which feed upon and destroy 

 the aphis; nine species of the Lady- 

 bird are described and figured ; also 

 Lace-winged or Golden-eyed Flies, and 

 the larvae of the Syrphus flics. The 



latter were frequently found on the lice 

 infested leaves, last season, and were 

 supposed by many to be the real cause 

 of the destruction of the fruit. 



ROOT PRUNING. 

 The experiments were made on the 

 apple and pear. A vigorous apple tree, 

 eight or ten years old, which had 

 scarcely made any fruit buds, has done 

 best when about half the roots were 

 cut in one season and half three years 

 later, going half way round on opposite 

 sides in one year and finishing at the 

 next pruning, working two feet under- 

 neath to sever downward roots. It has 

 always answered well also to cut from 

 such trees all the larger and longer 

 roots about two and a half feet from 

 the stem, leaving the smaller and 

 weaker ones longer and going half way 

 round, as already stated. The o))era- 

 tion was repeated three or four years 

 later by extending the cut circle a foot 

 or two further away from the tree. By 

 this operation unproductive fruit trees 

 became thickly studded with fruit spurs, 

 and afterwards bore profusely. The 

 shortening of the roots has been con- 

 tinued in these experiments for twenty 

 years with much success, the circle of 

 roots remaining greatly circumscribed. 

 The best time for the work has been 

 found to be in the latter part of August 

 and the beginning of September, when 

 growth has nearly ceased and while the 

 leaves are yet on the trees. — London 

 Garden. 



Bagging Tomatoes.— Mr. E. S. jCarman, 

 of the Bural New Yorker, experimented 

 last season with bagging tomatoes, and 

 found that those so treated were the most 

 brilliantly colored, and when cooked the 

 least acid tomatoes he had ever seen or 

 eaten. It was also observed that the 

 bagged tomatoes ripened more evenly, and 

 about the stem as well as elsewhere. 

 Against the i ot, however, bagging afi'orded 

 no protection. 



