VI. DISEASES OF FRUIT-TREES. 



scarcely a handful of them were left alive j and my melon 

 bed, which I was actually upon the point of giving up as 

 lost, was suffered to proceed unmolested. The greatest 

 care, therefore, ought to be taken, especially if grass 

 ground be near the garden, to hunt out ants' nests, and 

 to destroy them. 



300. SPIDER. I do not know that the common spider 

 does any harm to the gardener, and I know that it 

 frequently does good by killing the flies j but there is a 

 red spider which is very mischievous to vines, especially 

 when under glass. If attended to, however, they are 

 easily destroyed, and the destruction of them should not 

 be neglected. Plentifully washing of the trees with 

 water is the great remedy, and, in hot-houses, syringes* 

 are made use of for this purpose. 



301. CATERPILLAR. Very few more mischievous 

 creatures than this infest the gardens. In the first place, 

 it is a most destructive enemy of fruit-trees, apples, 

 pears, plums, quinces and medlars, but particularly apples 

 and plums are literally flayed alive by this nasty insect. 

 Hundreds of trees together are, early in the month of 

 June, very frequently completely stripped of every leaf 

 by the caterpillars. Of their progenitors I know 

 nothing j but I know that they make their first ap- 

 pearance in a web formed into the shape of a bag or sort 

 of wallet attached to the branches of trees. And this 

 bag is a small thing at first ; but it grows larger and 

 larger as the caterpillars within it increase in size. If 

 you open one of these bags, a goodly tribe glads your 

 sight j and, if you leave the bag till the caterpillars grow 



