514 [ THE ALMOKD 



vigour of the tree by good pruning and deep digging in 

 autumn, and by manuring if the soil is in poor condition. 



The mildew is a rare disease on the almond, due to 

 Podosphaeria tridactyla D.By., and is shown as usual by 

 an etiolation of the growing twigs and leaves, which 

 become covered by the powdery formation and small 

 black dots charasteristic of this disease; the leaves are 

 small misshapen and contorted, and soon wither and are 

 shed off leaving bare twigs with a few whitish rickety 

 leaves at their end. The treatment suggested for the 

 same disease on the kernel fruits may be adopted in this 

 case. 



There are three species of moths whose larvae feed 

 on the leaves of the almond tree. The first is Brotolomia 

 meticulosa L. the larva of which is 3 to 4 c. m. long, at 

 first greenish and afterwards greenish brown. It has a 

 protuberance on the last segment and dark transverse 

 bands on the back, with white lines on the sides. The 

 next is Calocampa exoleta Linn, whose larva is green 

 with a yellow line on each side with two white spots on 

 each segment, surrounded and united by a dark line, 

 and a lateral red line with a white edge. The moth is 

 pale greyish violet, with a dark anterior border on the 

 anterior \vings and a round spot on each side. 



However, by far the worst insect pest of the almond 

 tree is the larvae of the moth Diloba caeruleocephala (Lin.) 

 Steph. These larvae make their appearance in February 

 or earlier, sometimes when the tree is still in bloom, and 

 for some time feed on the blossoms and the young leaves, 

 but their voracity increases in proportion to their increase 

 in size so that in March they eat up all the foliage as 

 well as the young twigs and the green bark, reducing 

 the tree to a perfectly leafless condition. There may be 

 several hundreds of larvae on the same tree and when 

 there is nothing more to eat they crawl down the stem 

 and either dispose themselves to undergo their metamor- 

 phosis, or if they are still immature they proceed to 



