304 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



syringed, may, from the invisible moisture on their surfaces, be so acted upon by the 

 smoke as to have the leaf tissues destroyed, causing the leaves to become skeletonised, 

 in id the fruit to fall. Houses that from adverse weather have been kept close for some 

 time must be fumigated very cautiously and moderately, for the foliage is then 

 tender. Care should be taken to have the air dry and to deliver the smoke cool, always 

 filling the house equally from end to end. A fumigator left a considerable time in one 

 place causes the parts above it to receive a scorching dose, and allowing the material to 

 flare not only wastes smoke but burns the air and foliage. 



As a rule it is not safe to fumigate whilst plants or trees are in flower. Ordinarily, 

 the fumigation should precede the expansion of the flowers, preferably before they are 

 much advanced in colour, and if care is taken to have the trees perfectly clean before the 

 blossoms unfold, there will be no occasion to fumigate until the petals have fallen. 

 Two moderate fumigations, one in the evening and the other early the following morning, 

 destroy aphides and thrips more effectually and safely than does one strong dose. Indeed, 

 mild smokings on two or three consecutive evenings are the most satisfactory. Fumigation 

 at fortnightly or monthly intervals prevents attacks by aphis and thrips infestations. 

 Eemember that all trouble from insects has a small beginning, and that one or two aphides 

 or thrips let alone may be the forerunners of a plague ; therefore, destroy the one first 

 seen, and much trouble and loss will be prevented. Cleanse the foliage by syringing 

 with clear water after the destruction of the insects, either in the morning or evening 

 succeeding the fumigations. It is, however, from whatever point of view regarded, cultural 

 or economical, far better to prevent than destroy the insect pests of vines and fruit trees. 



There are many forms of fumigators. For use in all of them the tobacco paper or 

 rag must be torn in pieces proportionate in size to the fumigator. Some fumigating 

 materials require no blowing, but tobacco paper, as a rule, requires the use of bellows, 

 and damping to insure smoke without flame. For frames, small houses, and direct 

 application of the smoke to parts infested, Bloxham's Patent Fumigator, Fig. 99, is 

 handy. It consists of a short barrel for holding the tobacco paper, a diminishing tube 

 for delivering the smoke, and bellows beneath the barrel to insure combustion and force 

 the smoke through the funnel. With a hole bored in the side of a frame or small house 

 to admit the funnel, the operator may fill the structures with smoke from outside. 



Fumigators are readily formed of sheet-iron, saucepan-shaped, with a perforated 

 bottom for air, a lid to prevent the material bursting into flame, three short legs to 

 keep the implement off the floor, and a handle for carrying. A typical form is that 



