262 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



Much can be effected in clearing aphis off trees or bushes by removing the tops of 

 the infested shoots and burning them, afterwards washing the trees or bushes with soap- 

 suds, which are not mixed with bleaching powder or an excess of soda, washing off the 

 following day with clear water. Dusting infested trees or bushes with soot or dry wood 

 ashes whilst they are wet, and syringing off next day, cleanses them from insects and 

 manures the ground. 



Beetles and Woodlice. These are placed together because they hide in much the 

 same places by day and emerge at night to commit their depredations on fruit. Some 

 beetles have a sweet tooth, and woodlice make holes in fruit. "Woodlice are common 

 in dark places, as under dead leaves and stones, also in holes in walls and trees. 

 Three species of Oniscidee, popularly known as woodlice, or slaters, do harm, namely, 

 the Spotted (Oniscus asellus), leaden colour, with yellowish spots in two rows near 

 the sides and others dotted on the back ; Slater (Porcellio scaber), slaty-blue, with 

 spots and tubercles on the back ; and Pill Millipede (Armadillo vulgaris), lead-coloured 

 and rolling itself up when disturbed. 



Preventives are dispensing with rubbish, stopping up holes in walls, keeping the 

 stems of trees clean, and placing sticky bands around stems or drawing a line along 

 the base of walls. Traps may be formed of slates. Place one on the ground, 

 sprinkle a little oatmeal on it and a few leaves ; then the other slate with a stone at 

 each corner so as to form a space between the slates of about \ inch. Examine early 

 every morning, arid turn up the bottom slate for blackbeetles. Two pieces of dry, 

 dirty old boards, placed face to face with a little space between them, are favourite hiding 

 places of woodlice, and thousands have been caught and destroyed by taking up 

 the boards and shaking the contents in a pail of water. Or place pieces of 

 boiled potato in small pots, fill nearly full of moss, but lightly, and place in the forks 

 of the trees, or lay on their sides along the base of walls. Examine every morning, and 

 shake out into hot water. Either of the baits used in time will keep fruit safe. Hollow 

 stems, slices of vegetables or fruit, placed in the haunts of beetles and woodlice, entice 

 numbers, especially if lightly covered with moss, as they abhor daylight. A sprinkling 

 of boiled potato or scalded oatmeal around the walls of melon houses or pits, also pine 

 beds, covered with a little moss, and boiling water poured over it in the morning, soon 

 clear away bad infections. 



Borers. A number of grubs the larvae of moths and some beetles burrow in the 

 shoots, branches, and stems of fruit trees. Some confine their attacks to the shoots, 



