PLANT LICE OR APHIDS. 



the ant, however, as an extremely use- 

 f\il warning signal. Half the time we 

 should be unaware of the existence of 

 the lice on the trees, if it were not for 

 the ants scurrying up and down for 

 their favorite food. 



Now, as to the practical bearing of all 

 this. It is a case evidently where delay 

 is disastrous. It is true that fighting 

 these pests is a highly disagreeable busi- 

 ness, and that applications are useless if 

 not thorough. It is also true that some 

 seasons are so unfavorable for their 

 development that it hardly pays to 

 bother with them. Nevertheless, tak- 

 ing one year with another, it would un- 

 doubtedly pay, and pay well, to fight 

 them systematically before the colonies 

 have increased to any extent. Some of 

 us left our cherry trees this year, in the 

 hope that matters would not be so bad. 

 We know the result. The black aphis 

 literally covered the trees. A large pro- 

 portion of the cherry crop (one of the 

 few " paying " crops this season) was 

 utterly ruined. Branches, twigs, leaves 

 and fruit all carried a load of lice. The 

 state of things was simply loathsome. 

 No wonder that pickers " kicked,' and 

 that buyers complained of " sticky " 

 cherries. The work of the green aphis 

 on the new shoots of plum and pear 

 trees was equally injurious. Growth 

 was stopped or retarded, and the trees 

 terribly weakened. 



The really satisfactory remedies are 

 confined to about three, viz. : — kerosene 

 emulsion, fish-oil soaps, and tobacco. 

 It cannot be too often stated that no 



stomach poison, such as the arsenites, 

 are any good whatever against plant lice 

 or any other hemipterous insect. We 

 can only " fix " them with applications 

 that clog the spiracles through which 

 they breathe. It should be borne in 

 mind that the darker species of aphids 

 are much harder to kill than the green 

 species. Kerosene emulsion diluted 

 with ten or twelve parts water is effica- 

 cious against the green lice, but to be 

 effective against the black aphids, es- 

 pecially the mature ones, it is necessary 

 to dilute only with from six to eight 

 parts water. Fish-oil soap may be 

 diluted with half the above quantity of 

 water. Tobacco is often recommended 

 at the rate of one pound to six gallons of 

 water, but unless a good sample and 

 thoroughly boiled, it is not effective in 

 that proportion against the black cherry 

 aphis. The addition of a small quantity 

 of fish-oil soap to the tobacco water will 

 be found helpful. The thing to be 

 continually borne in mind is that the 

 work must be thorough and, above all 

 things, must be begun in time. A stitch 

 in time saves nine hundred and ninety- 

 nine in this case. I have spoken above 

 of the natural checks against injurious 

 insects. There are many predaceous 

 enemies of the aphids, and though we 

 should be unwise to place too much 

 reliance on their assistance, that assist- 

 ance is sometimes of great value. Some 

 of these beneficial insects may be re 

 ferred to at a later date. 



M. BURRELL. 



.SY. Catharines. 



Baked Pears. — Put into a pan pears 

 which have been washed, but which 

 are unpared, add one or two spoonfuls 

 of water, and then bake ; sprinkle with 



sugar, and serve with their own syrup. 

 Many pears which are not as nice as 

 they might be originally, when baked as 

 above turn out to be very good indeed. 



408 



