180 FRUIT CULTURE. 



their pupae. Gas lime or caustic lime pointed into the soil 

 to that depth will also destroy them. 



THE PEAR SUCKER (Psylla pyri). The popular name of 

 this small four-winged fly is given to it on account of its 

 habit of sucking away the juices of the young shoots of 

 pear trees, thus weakening the foliage. It also voids the 

 sap in extraordinary quantity, covering everything under 

 it with the filthy secretion, attracting ants and other in- 

 sects in large numbers. The perfect insects hibernate in 

 crevices of the bark and similar places, from whence they 

 come forth in spring and lay their eggs upon the shoots, 

 flower buds, and underside of the leaves. The larvae hatch 

 in a fortnight or less, and are at first dusky yellow, but 

 soon become darker, and develop wing cases, and about 

 this time crawl from the leaves, and settle upon the shoots 

 in large numbers. When full fed, the pupa fixes itself to 

 a leaf, bursts the old skin, and comes forth as a four- 

 winged fly, at first pale green, with red eyes, but after- 

 wards changes to various tints of red, crimson, and black. 

 It has a broad head like a frog-hopper, tapers to a point 

 at the hinder end, and, being furnished with legs adapted 

 for leaping, is sometimes spoken of as the j umping plant- 

 louse. The fly is rather larger than an aphis, to which it 

 is allied ; but it does not bring forth its young alive as the 

 latter does. 



REMEDIES. At the winter pruning, the rough bark 

 may be cleaned away from the trunks and main branches, 

 together with anything that will harbour the insects or 

 their eggs during winter. The trees may also be cleaned 

 at the same time, when the temperature of the air is six 

 or eight degrees below freezing point, by forcibly syrin- 

 ging them with a garden engine, using a solution of a 

 quarter of a pound of soft soap in two gallons of water. 



