72 FRUIT TREES AND THEIR ENEMIES 



over the bark of the trunk and boughs. They soon 

 come to an anchor, and gradually cover themselves 

 with a scale, under which, if females, they lay their 

 eggs, and then die. The males are winged insects, 

 and are very rarely met with. 



Remedies, — Caustic winter wash {loh, \Qc or lod), 

 applied in January to March. If any hatching occurs 

 after winter washing, it will be very partial, and only 

 from eggs which have escaped the wash ; to destroy 

 these, it is sufficient to paint the stems, wherever the 

 insects are seen, with any weak emulsion. If the 

 winter washing has not been properly done, it will be 

 necessary to spray the whole trees, instead of merely 

 painting those parts which are affected. 



Apple- Slicker {^Psylla inali), — The eggs of this insect 

 are laid singly on the young shoots and spurs, chiefly 

 around the leaf rings, amongst the fine hairs of the 

 shoots, and in the axils of the buds. They are very 

 pale yellowish in colour, spindle-shaped, with a tail- 

 like extension, and large enough to be visible to the 

 naked eye. They hatch in April (generally between 

 the loth and 30th), but in some years the hatching may 

 be prolonged till the first week in May. The insect, 

 which then resembles a small, dull yellow and brown, 

 wingless louse, forces its way into the nearest blossom- 

 bud, or, failing that, into a leaf-bud. The attacked 

 buds either do not expand, or, after expanding, wither, 

 the blossoms turning brown ; these attacked clusters 

 of blossoms often remain on the trees into the winter. 

 Drops of "honeydew" near the stalks of unopened or 

 opened flower-buds and trusses of blossom, notify the 



