The Strawberry Book. 37 



scattering of guano on the damp leaves might perhaps 

 annoy them. 



Ashes is also a useful means of assailing the aphis, or 

 plant louse, which sometimes congregates upon the roots 

 of strawberry vines in light soils. 



Same tender kinds of strawberries are subject, in our 

 climate, to sun-scald, and have consequently unhealthy 

 foliage ; but, generally speaking, the strawberry is singu- 

 larly free from disease. A sudden cold rain will some- 

 times cause the blossoms to blight, and the over-ripe fruit 

 will mould on the vines in damp weather ; but a straw- 

 berry bed is never at the mercy of any scourge like those 

 that so often threaten, and which not seldom ruin, a wheat- 

 field, a vineyard, or a potato plantation. 



