The Canadian Horticulturist. 213 



CURRANT WORM. 



Sir, — What shall I use for the worm on my currant and gooseberry bushes. I have 

 been using hellebore with water, applying it with a whisk broom. That does for a few 

 bushes, but for a great many bushes, it is too slow. Would Paris green do ? I have been 

 thinking that a knapsack sprayer with a vermorel nozzle would answer. 



A. W. Graham, St. Thomas, Ont. 



Certainly Paris green applied with a knapsack sprayer would be one of the 

 most convenient and effective appliances that could be used for ridding the 

 currant bushes of the currant worm. The use of Paris green would be perfectly 

 safe, a few weeks before the currants would be required for use, because the 

 poison is so dilute and so soon shaken and washed from the bushes. Applying 

 hellebore in water with a whisk broom is too slow a process. A watering can, 

 or a sprayer of some kind, would be better. The writer has been applying the 

 hellebore in the dry state, with a very fine sieve, and by parting the bushes and 

 applying it to the lower leaves where the worm first appears, it can be quickly 

 routed. If a sieve is not at hand, a glass goblet is a convenient article, using a 

 piece of leno tight over the top, through which the powder may be sifted. The 

 powder should be applied in the early morning, while the bushes are still wet 

 with dew. 



MAPLE LEAF MITE. 



Sir, — I enclose you a le^f of a map'e tree, covered with soTiethin;7, caused, I suppose, 

 "by an insect. I have two maple trees and one pear affected in this way. and the same 

 trees were jint the same last year. Cui anything be done to remedy this ? An answer 

 thn)ugh the Horticcltukist will much oblige, 



E. H. D. Hall, Montreal 



Reply by Prof. Fletcher, Experimental Farm, Ottawa. 



The insect which causes the blistered appearance like that upon the maple 

 leaves you sent last week, is a very small mite, which causes a gall by the irrita" 

 tion of the tissues of the leaves. I have treated of this insect in a preliminary 

 manner in my forthcoming report. Under the head Remedies, I say : 



" No satisfactory remedy has as yet been hit upon for this pest. Prof. Com' 

 stock's experiments showed that kerosene emulsion sprayed on the leaves wa^ 

 not satisfactory, and all that can at present be suggested is spraying freely with 

 kerosene emulsion at the time the buds burst in spring. It is difficult to mix 

 any powder with kerosene emulsion, but this can be done with care, and 

 flowers of sulphur would certainly be a valuable addition on account of its 

 efficacy in destroying mites." 



This however is unsatisfactory and I am trying to get a better remedy. 



