146 



Commercial Gardening 



over a considerable range, depending, as to green berries, upon the crop 

 in other places, and as to ripe berries, upon the price of strawberries and 

 raspberries as well as upon the crop of gooseberries. From 9 to 14 per 

 ton may be taken as the usual range of price for green berries, and from 

 6 to 9 per ton for ripe. An average crop of full-grown berries would 

 be about 3 or 4 tons per acre. [w. G. L.] 



Fig. 373. Gooseberry and Currant Sawfly 

 (Nematug ribesii) 



1, Shoot of gooseberry. 2, Eggs. 3, Larva. 4, Pupa. 

 5, Perfect insect. 



3. INSECT PESTS OF THE GOOSEBERRY 



Gooseberry and Currant Sawfly (Nematus ribesii). Gooseberries, 

 and sometimes Currants, are attacked by Sawfly larvae. The commonest 



of these is Nematus ribesii (fig. 373). 

 Sawfly larvae are easily told by the 

 number of their legs, there being six 

 jointed ones in front and five pairs of 

 prolegs, and in addition an anal pair. 

 The larvae usually assume all manner 

 of curious positions on the bushes. 



The adult female Sawfly is about 

 J in. long, almost orange, with dark 

 head, and most of the thorax dark; 

 the legs yellowish, except the tarsi, 

 which are brown; the four wings are 

 transparent and iridescent. In the 

 male the thorax is nearly all black, 



. > 



except a yellow band in tront, ab- 

 domen dark, except the apex and the 



sides and venter, which are yellowish. The adults occur in April and 

 May, and lay their eggs in small slits on the under sides of the leaves. 

 The egg stage lasts from five to twelve days. The larvae are green spotted 

 with black, the first and part of the second segment and the last two 

 orange yellow. When full grown, they reach nearly f in. long. At first 

 the larvae eat round holes, then the edges of the leaves, and later the fruit 

 may be attacked. When mature they fall to the ground and pupate in 

 a silken case covered with earth; the pupal stage lasts ten to twenty-one 

 days in the summer. The last brood that fall to earth do not pupate 

 until the following spring. 



TREATMENT. Spraying with hellebore or dusting with the same was 

 the old remedy. We now know that nicotine wash or paraffin emulsion 

 will as easily kill the larvae, especially when young, but also up to at least 

 two-thirds of their growth, and this is recommended especially where the 

 fruit is going to be picked green. Even soft soap and quassia wash will 

 kill them. 



The Gooseberry Red Spider (Bryobia nobilis). The Red Spider of the 

 Gooseberry is frequently very harmful. It is distinct from others we find 



