48 THE BOOK OF THE APPLE 



met with are American Blight, aphides, apple weevil, 

 winter moth, codlin moth, and scale. Each of these if 

 left alone is able to do a very considerable amount of 

 damage to the tree and its crop of fruit, so that it 

 behoves the cultivator to know how to take preventive 

 and curative measures against these pests. A great deal 

 can be done to prevent their appearance, and almost all 

 preventive measures are founded upon cleanliness. This 

 applies to all departments of the garden, for, whether 

 it be flowers, fruits, or vegetables that are concerned, 

 the best way to ensure the non-appearance of insect pests 

 is to keep the plants clean. Another great aid to the 

 prevention of the attacks of insects is to keep the plants 

 healthy and vigorous, for it is well-known that plants 

 in ill-health are invariably the first to be attacked. 



Much can be done to ensure the cleanliness of one's 

 fruit-trees by never allowing heaps of rubbish to remain 

 about, and by making it a rule to take away and burn 

 all prunings, clippings, etc. Small heaps of vegetable 

 refuse in corners of the garden are favourite spots for 

 insects to breed in. Bullfinches and sparrows are perhaps 

 the only two birds generally acknowledged to do more 

 harm by destroying buds and fruit than good by catch- 

 ing injurious insects ; as a rule, however, the good 

 accomplished by birds in the garden is enormous, and 

 greatly exceeds what little damage they may do to the 

 fruit crop. 



Aphides are a very common pest in the fruit garden ; 

 for they attack the foliage of the majority of fruit trees, 

 and will, if not destroyed, greatly disfigure and injure the 

 trees. The leaves curl up, and the growth of the shoots 

 is crippled. There is perhaps no garden insect that 

 increases more rapidly than do the aphides, or green 

 and black fly, as they are commonly called, and pre- 

 ventive measures should be taken in good time, other- 

 wise it will be a difficult matter to keep them down. 



