CHAPTER V 



INSECT PESTS OF BASKET WILLOWS 



FEW plants are more subject to the attacks of 

 insects than willows or osiers, and in any season the 

 crop may be so damaged as to be almost worthless. 

 The fungus diseases, on the other hand, are not so 

 numerous. It is only possible to deal here with a few 

 of these pests, most of which will already be familiar 

 to growers, though in many cases they have no well- 

 known English names. They may, as a rule, be 

 recognised by the type of injury they cause, and it may, 

 therefore, be convenient in the first place to describe 

 certain characteristic attacks to enable the grower to 

 recognise the pest by which his crop is damaged. The 

 types of injury are divided into (I) those which affect 

 the leaves, the top or terminal bud or shoot of the 

 rod ; (II) those which affect the rod itself ; (III) those 

 which affect the stump. 



The following table is intended to assist the grower 

 in recognising the pests by which his beds are attacked. 



/. Damage to Leaves and Terminal Buds 



(a) Leaves and shoots eaten by dark green or blue 

 beetles (which fall but do not jump when disturbed) 

 or by their larvae, which are blackish or yellowish 

 grubs, sometimes known as Army Worms. See also 



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