Prevention and Cure. 21 



and arising from the fact that the aphidae 

 were in these years very active and destruc- 

 tive. 



Now, little good will arise from a discussion 

 of the cause and effect of this or any other 

 disease without it is accompanied by some 

 advice or recommendation as to the prevention 

 or cure. I offer this with diffidence, but as it 

 is based entirely on my own observation, I 

 have hope that it may prove of service to 

 those who have to combat with the mischief. 

 The first and most important advice is, give 

 up the system of indiscriminate planting of 

 larch, and plant those trees which will grow 

 in its place. For example, on sands plant 

 Scotch or Austrian pines, or the pinaster, and 

 on low-lying moist lands, where the bottom is 

 cold and where fogs lie morning and evening, 

 plant Scotch pine, silver fir, or spruce. This 

 advice may be refused by some, especially in 

 the case of the Scotch pine, but I have known 

 these trees do well where the soil is not too 

 stiff, and where there is no stagnant water, 

 and at any rate there will be no disease 

 without it is late in fife. 



