286 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



on, or a liberal application of soot similarly used, are serviceable remedies 

 and safe. 



The gooseberry and currant saw-fly attack is perhaps one of the most 

 destructive that bush fruit growers have to contend with, on account of its 

 frequent recurrence and the great powers of ruining the leafage of the attacked 

 leaves, even by scores of acres. The life history is that the female saw-fly 

 appears about May and lays her eggs beneath the skin of the leaf. The grubs 

 soon hatch and begin feeding on the leaf where they are placed, which they 

 pierce full of holes, and continue to feed upon until all the leaf, excepting the 

 mid-rib, is devoured. Thus they continue their work of destruction, moulting 

 from time to time, and hanging on to the leaf with their fore legs, their tails 

 in the air. After the operation of casting the skin for the last time, they 

 bury themselves in the soil to turn to the pupal state, from which the saw- 

 flies come out in three weeks in summer, or in the case of late broods in 

 the following spring. For prevention of attack, excepting what may be borne 

 on the wing by stray saw-flies from elsewhere, the most certain plan is autumn 

 or winter removal of surface soil from under the bushes. A deep hole 

 should be dug in some other place into which the removed soil with what- 

 ever may be in it is buried. The soil under the fruit bushes may be replaced 

 by that taken out of the hole, with the addition of some manure. Hand 

 picking is recommended, also dressings of sulphur powder when the dew is on 

 the bushes. 



THE PEAR 



The pear gnat midge [Diplosis pyrivora) is a very frequent trouble to pear 

 growers, from the damage caused by its little legless, yellowish white maggots, 

 living in numbers inside the young pears in their very early state. Conse- 

 quently, on the maggots feeding within the fruits the growth of the 

 young pears is checked and stunted, the centre decays, and they crack or 

 die and drop off. As preventive measures, in cases where the crop is in 

 reach, pick off the little stunted pears, also gather up the fallen fruit and destroy 

 as soon as possible. To this treatment a thoroughly good shaking of the 

 boughs of the infested tree so as to bring down the injured fruit will be of 

 service. Also spreading a coat of quicklime on a dry day beneath the infested 

 tree and then slaking it, might have a good effect in killing the escaping 

 maggots. When pears are grown in grass orchards a deal of the fallen infested 

 fruit would be cleared ofi^ by having sheep on the ground. If the tree roots are 

 not too near the surface the plan of turning the earth with its contained pests 

 would answer well. The pear leaf disease known as " blister," which is 

 caused by a minute cylindrical four-legged mite {Phytoptus pyri), does great harm 

 to pear leafage. Where there are only a few leaves infested, or the trees are 

 small, it is well to pick those leaves off and burn them as soon as the attack is 

 observed. Most of the insects that prove disastrous to the apple may frequently 

 be found on the pear, and should be dealt with as already described. 



