Stone Fruits: Plums 115 



It cannot be killed with soft soap and .quassia nor paraffin emulsion, 

 but if 1 Ib. of liver of sulphur is added to every 100 gal. of the paraffin 

 emulsion they are easily destroyed. 



The Shot-hole Borer (Xyleborus dispar). The Shot-hole Borer is 

 a small beetle about in. long, of a dark-brown to black colour, with 

 reddish-brown wing cases. The female commences her attack by boring 

 into the main stem of fruit trees, but also into the branches^ _The beetles 

 hatch out in May and June, and lay their eggs in tunnels in the wood. The 

 small white maggots partly fill up the tunnels, being packed close together 

 in a line. The maggots feed on a grey-and-black substance lining the 

 galleries, called "ambrosia". One female will lay as many as forty ova 

 at different times in June. They pupate in the galleries close together, 

 and when the beetles hatch out they are found packed together like 

 shot. The beetles are found in January, February, May, September, on 

 to December in the galleries, but flight time occurs mainly in May and 

 June and in August and September. All badly attacked trees should be 

 cut down and burnt in winter. 



Other Plum Pests. Winter Moth (Cheimatobia brumata), Mottled 

 Umber Moth (Hybernia defoliaria), Early Moth (H. rupicapraria), March 

 Moth (Anisopteryx cescularia), Figure-of-8 Moth (Diloba cceruleocepkala), 

 Goat Moth (Cossus ligniperda), Wood Leopard (Zeuzera pyrina), Vapourer 

 Moth (Orgyia antiqua), Plum Tortrix (Penthina pruniana), Allied Bud 

 Moth (P. variegana), Codlin Moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), Red - legged 

 and Clay-coloured Weevils (Otiorhynchus tencbricosus and 0. picipes), 

 Leaf Weevils (Phyllobius sp.\ Plum-leaf Sawfly (Cladiu-s padi), Slug- 

 worm (Eriocampa limacina), Social Pear Sawfly (Pamphilus flaviventris), 

 Hop Damson Aphis (Phorodon humuli, var. malaheb), Oyster-shell Bark 

 Louse (Aspidiotus ostrewformis), Mussel Scale (Lepidosaphaes ulmi), 

 Brown Scale (Lecanium caprece), Leaf Hoppers (Typklocybidce), Plum- 

 leaf Gall Mites (Eriophyes padi, &c.), Red Spider (Tetranychius tetanus). 



[F. v. T.] 



Silver Leaf, The Plum has diseases peculiar to itself, as well as 

 sharing in others common to the Apple and the Pear. The worst of all 

 is what is called " Silver Leaf", from the peculiar sheen on the foliage 

 which is the first evidence to the eye that the tree is smitten. The 

 disease, which seems to have been first mentioned in Mr. J. Weathers' 

 Practical Guide to Garden Plants, published in 1901, attacks Apples 

 sometimes, but not Pears; in Plums it has become so serious as to threaten 

 with extinction the cultivation of the " Victoria" in some parts. So far, 

 no authoritative statement has been made as to what is a remedy for 

 it, although it has been proved to be due to a fungus called Stereum 

 purpureum. 



In The Fruit Garden the disease is not even mentioned, and yet it 

 is responsible for the death of thousands of Plum trees every year. In 

 one mixed plantation in Middlesex, out of a quarter containing 8 ac. of 

 Victoria Plums and Apples, over 300 trees were thrown up in the winter 



