64 POPULAR REMEDIES. 



The time occupied in this round of existence is very 

 variable : many of the eggs laid in May, before the middle 

 of the month produce grubs that go through every change 

 and are on the wing by the 24th of June ; and eggs laid 

 about that day, will go through their changes as far as the 

 cocoon by the 10th of July, or 15th at the latest : the first 

 brood thus taking about twenty-eight days, and the second 

 generally remaining under ground till the next spring. It 

 is not however clear that in all instances this insect has 

 two broods : on the contrary, I am nearly certain that 

 many of the late hatches never reproduce during the year, 

 but the time of their first appearance is so variable, that a 

 constant succession is kept up, the earliest having repro- 

 duced before the later hatches are gone down. 



In my war on blight I always weigh well the remedies : 

 many a tree has been killed to get rid of its blight; this 

 plan is efficient but impolitic, energetic but unwise : some 

 will white-wash a gooseberry-bush, the effect of which is 

 cheerful and pleasing to the eye but rather injurious to the 

 leaves, and moreover gives a very unpleasant flavour and 

 grittiness to the berries : some will water the bushes with 

 strong brine, thereby greatly annoying the grub by killing 

 the leaves : quicklime has a very similar effect. It strikes 

 me that no nostrum will ever be found that shall be per- 

 fectly efficient as regards the grub and harmless as regards 

 the tree: it would therefore be my plan to attempt to 

 lessen an evil that is not to be cured. I have already 

 mentioned the good effects of smoke ; the (picking of the 

 perforated leaves I have also recommended : another bene- 

 fit will arise from treading the ground very hard about the 

 roots of the bushes. An observant gardener cannot fail to 

 notice that when gooseberry-bushes stand singly at the end 



