154 



Insect Pests. 



twenty years. Mr. Ellis has had it in his plantations near Godal- 

 ming in Surrey for many years. Many growers in Kent have had it 

 constantly working year after year. Certain plantations are infested 

 more than others, of course, but there are few which I have visited 

 in which it could not be detected. During a tour of inspection in 

 1906 of the plantations in Worcestershire very few places were found 

 where it was not more or less harmful, and there are growers who 

 considered that the estimated damage to the apple crop, namely 70 per 

 cent,, was too low. In some parts it certainly was, for the whole 

 blossom had been destroyed (4). Mr. Denis Best informed me that 

 at one of his plantations at Holt Castle he had picked no apples for 

 fifteen years owing to the Sucker. It is also harmful in Herefordshire. 

 Mr. Getting of Eoss writes that it is very troublesome to some of 

 his apples. The insect is also common in Norfolk, Huntingdonshire, 

 Oxfordshire, Dorsetshire and Gloucestershire. During a visit to 

 some Devon plantations in 1906 and 1907 very little of this apple 

 enemy was detected and growers there scarcely knew what it was. 

 Mr. W. Bear tells me it is not present in his plantations to any 

 extent now at Hailsham. 



The damage done by it is mainly to the blossoms, but leaf-buds 

 are also attacked. This latter 

 damage was specially noticed at 

 Wye in 1901. The attacked leaf- 

 buds when they open produce only 

 stunted and deformed leaves (Fig. 

 127). Besides being crinkled and 

 deformed, the foliage presents a 

 pallid appearance, often looking 

 frosted ; sometimes these leaves 

 die off, at others they gradually 

 recover. 



The damage to the blossom- 

 buds and blossoms is much more 

 marked and abundant. Frequently 

 the buds never properly open and 

 when many of the young " suckers" 

 have entered, the blossom is irre- 

 parably damaged before expanding. 

 If only a few are present then the blossom shows well, but before 

 the petals are ready to fall they shrivel up and a dried brown truss 

 remains. This is a very marked sign of Psylla attack, and it is 

 noticed (4) that the dead blossom hangs on the trees a long time, 



FIG. 127. DAMAGE TO FOLIAGE BY APPLE 

 SUCKER (b) : NORMAL LEAVES (). 



