ICEBYA PURCHASI. 



89 



ground of soft-soap wash would be a great preventive of 

 wandering. 



In England, for prevention of wandering from a given 

 point, it is sometimes found useful to circumscribe a 

 small area with a line of wet tar, and where there were 

 only the droppings from a few trees or the infestation in 

 a limited spot to be temporarily dealt with, it might save 

 all trouble to run a little furrow (just to save waste in 

 application), and to pour some tar along it, renewing it 

 for a day or two if necessary ; but in whatever way it is 

 managed, it is obvious, from the remark of the Inspector 

 of Fruit Pests of California, quoted at p. 83, that the 

 point of the spread of the attack from the pest being 

 dispersed in removing the infected trees requires much 

 consideration. 



On Aug. 21st, 1886, Mr. Bairstow wrote: "I notice 

 that the large female attacks the black-wood roots most 

 fiercely in the winter time. Just now " [winter in Cape 

 Colony ED.] "in St. George's Park the ground in some 

 parts is simply alive snowy with them." At this 

 period a little care and attention must prove amazingly 

 beneficial. 



How far mechanical measures can be brought to bear 

 on such a state of things as that above described can 

 only be certainly known by trial, but it occurs whether 

 something might not be done towards gathering a large 

 amount of the pests off the grass by running a machine 

 over it, made on the principle of a lawn-mowing machine, 

 with brushes instead of cutters. It would on the face 

 of the thing appear likely that, by a little arrangement 

 to allow of the brushes just catching on the edge of the 

 box, so as to free themselves of the Bugs sticking on to 

 them, much might be cleared from the ground and 

 swept up into the box and destroyed. If all other 

 measures failed, good hearty sweeping of the grass with 

 brooms or brushes frequently dipped in soft-soap solution 

 would clear an appreciable amount, and would at least 

 be better than leaving the creatures to be dispersed as 

 chance might cause. 

 When the trees, or groves of trees, are infested, it is 



