Introduction. 5 



as it is) with hot-air chambers breeding races of ladybirds and 

 chalcid flies ready to turn out when a particular insect appears in his 

 plantation or fungus-loving cecids to destroy his mildew enemies. 

 We sincerely hope and trust that those British i'ruit-growers, who yet 

 grow the best fruit of certain kinds in the world, will leave these 

 matters to tliat " school " elsewhere and follow the advice given by 

 some of our chief colonial economic entomologists, and leave these 

 insect parasites and feeders for Nature to do what she can with, of 

 her own accord and where Nature rules, not man, and where the 

 balance of life is natural and not completely upset, as it is in our 

 fruit plantations. 



The insect and fungoid diseases of fruit in Cireat Britain or else- 

 wliere are at present known very little about, certainly of very few 

 pests can we say we know enough of sufficient value to enable us to 

 cope with them. 



The object of this book, as previously stated, is to place before 

 growers a resume of some of the little we know. Unless they, for 

 years to come, note and record what they see in their work — field 

 facts — and unless we have much more pure naturalist work done we 

 shall make but little progress. We must struggle on to collect the 

 tangled skeins of the greater and then the minuter insect life before 

 we can arrive at anything definite concerning the treatment of the 

 majority of the pests or their prevention. The fruit-grower must 

 help, both by recording his observations and his kindly criticism of 

 what the economic biologist tries to do. 



