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Gardening for Amateurs 



in so far as they prevent the female weevil 

 from climbing the twigs to deposit her eggs, 

 but when they are employed the more evil- 

 smelling ones are best if sprayed over the 

 tree early in the year ; paraffin emulsion and 

 Cyllin wash are excellent for this purpose. 



Another method of reducing the number 

 of pests is to shake the branches, in order 

 that the weevils may be dislodged : they are 

 then swept or picked up and destroyed. 

 Unfortunately this method is only satis- 

 factory if repeated every fine morning at 

 the beginning of the year, but even after 

 attack the dead blossoms can be shaken off 

 and burned so as to kill the grubs inside. 

 Only by constant treatment will the war of 

 eradication lead to immunity, but there is 

 no doubt that unless something is done the 

 pests will increase to such an extent as to 

 endanger the Apple crop in many districts. 



The Codlin Moth. Although the name 

 might imply that the maggot of the Codlin 

 Moth confines its depredations to a few 

 varieties of the Apple, yet this is not the 

 case by any means ; all varieties are sus- 

 ceptible to attack, but there is no doubt 

 that those Apples which have large open 

 " eyes " and persistent dry scales round 

 these eyes (like the Codlins, Blenheim 

 Orange, some Pippins, etc.) suffer most, 

 while those that have close " eyes " are less 

 frequently attacked. 



The moth itself is a small one with grey 

 wings, having patches of deep golden colour 

 and an attractive glittering sheen ; it is 

 on the wing about the end of May, at which 

 time the females are busy depositing eggs 

 singly in the 3 r oung Apple fruits or on the 

 leaves. In a week or so these eggs hatch 

 into caterpillars, which immediately enter 

 the eye of the Apple and ensconce themselves 

 in that part where the seeds lie. For a 

 month the caterpillar lives here, the seeds 

 being its principal object of attack, but 

 eventually it tunnels its way out of the Apple 

 and seeks for a place to pupate on the ground. 

 Should the Apple have already fallen, as it 

 probably has, under the attack, the larva 

 experiences no trouble in this respect, but 

 from the twigs it has to lower itself by means 

 of threads, or crawl slowly down the trunk. 

 Some, indeed, pupate about the branches, 

 surrounding themselves with a cocoon of 



silk, gummed over with sticky fluid, and 

 covered with tiny pieces of bark. 



Apples which fall prematurely, and even 

 those that come down late in the season, 

 should always be examined for traces of the 

 pest ; granular excreta round the top of the 

 Apple may be taken as an indication of its 

 presence, easily verified by splitting up one 

 or two of the fruits. Such Apples, then, 

 ought to be destroyed, or used as far as 

 possible and the bad parts destroyed, else 

 the caterpillars will emerge soon and hide 

 in crevices. 



In some of our Colonies where these pests 

 abound (as shop Apples often reveal) a 

 process of summer banding is adopted with 

 some success ; pieces of cloth, pack sheet, 

 or hay bands are tied round the trunk and 

 examined regularly, so that all pests hiding 

 there may be destroyed. All rubbish round 

 the tree ought to be destroyed, or treated 

 with a soil fumigant, so that the pests may 

 find no retreat there. Winter washes will 

 go a long way towards reducing their numbers, 

 and arsenic solutions or Bordeaux Mixture 

 sprayed on the trees twice, once when the 

 petals fall and the young fruits are exposed, 

 and once about a week or ten days later, 

 can be relied on to secure immunity. Per- 

 haps the best method of using the arsenic 

 in this case is to stir 1 ounce of the paste 

 into 5 gallons of lime water, and to keep 

 this stirred during the process of spraying. 

 A dressing of kainit, 4 ounces per square 

 yard, should be given to the soil below the 

 tree in autumn, and it Mall do much good 

 in rendering the ground distasteful and even 

 poisonous to pests harbouring there. 



Apricot. This luscious fruit succeeds 

 well in most counties on walls with a southern 

 aspect. It is said to have been introduced 

 into this country at the time of King Henry 

 VIII. The Apricot may be propagated in 

 various ways, but the most expeditious 

 method is by budding, which is carried out 

 between the end of June and the middle of 

 August. The stocks chiefly used are seed- 

 lings raised from the stones of the Apricot ; 

 Plum stocks are also employed. Young 

 trees may be raised by sowing the stones of 

 the Apricot, but the trees do not bear fruit 

 so early when grown in this way unless 

 they are budded subsequently. 



