88 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



by aphis, red spider, thrips or scale, and infestation by those insects is due to extreme 

 neglect in management. Aphides are easily destroyed by tobacco water, or dusting with 

 snuff or tobacco powder. Eed spider succumbs to the bisulphate of calcium solution, 

 but occasional thorough syringings with water, generous treatment at the roots, and 

 avoiding over-cropping are certain antidotes against the pest. Thrips perish under 

 tobacco smoke, or tobacco water, but where cleanly culture obtains there will be no 

 thrips. The apricot is sometimes beset by a boat-shaped scale, Lecanium species, nearly 

 J inch long and \ inch wide, brown, darker in the centre, lighter at the edges, and 

 when reaching maturity, somewhat rounder and wrinkled. The eggs hatch in May, 

 and the brood is produced in a few weeks. The best remedy is the resin compound, 

 Vol. I,, page 261, applied with a small brush to the scale whilst young. If allowed to 

 become hard the scale should be removed with a knife, collected and destroyed, washing 

 the place with a solution made by dissolving 3 or 4 ounces of soft soap in a gallon of 

 hot water. 



Red-Bud Caterpillar Moth (Spilonotaocillana; syn. : Pyralis luscana). Insect narrow- 

 winged, grey, with whitish band, dotted with grey ; it appears at the end of summer, 

 and lays eggs upon the buds. These hatch early in spring, and the caterpillar, 

 fleshy red, black head, with a dark line down the back, attacks the blossoms or the leaf- 

 buds, preferring the former, and feeds inside the bud, some trees having the greater part of 

 the buds destroyed by the tiny caterpillar. Its presence in a bud is indicated by a 

 sticky exudation, and Kollar recommends lifting out the caterpillar by using the point 

 of a penknife, as it cannot be reached and destroyed by a wash. This is an excellent 

 plan to pursue with apricot, plum, pear, and apple buds, making a patient examination 

 of them when swelling, and should the edge of the calyx be sticky, the enemy may be 

 suspected. After feeding four or five weeks on the buds, and full fed, the caterpillar 

 spins a whitish cocoon upon some twig, becomes a chrysalis, from which the moth 

 emerges towards the end of summer. Spraying the trees whilst quite dormant with the 

 caustic soda and potash solution, Vol. I., page 251, detaches, if not destroys, the eggs. 

 Dusting the trees, whilst damp, with freshly- slaked lime when the buds commence 

 acts as a preventive, and if repeated occasionally, hinders the migration of the caterpillars 

 swelling from bud to bud. Those are the only remedies, except catching the moths. 



Apricot Moth (Tortrix (Ditula, Pcedisca) angustiorana). This insect is also called 

 the Vine Moth, because its larvae occasionally infest grapes in vineries, first eating the 

 skin of the berries, and then wrapping them in a web. The caterpillars, however, 



