RATIONAL FRUIT CULTURE. 95 



following autumn, or, if they do not crowd one another, left 

 where they are for another year. 



PESTS OF THE CURRANT. 



The chief pests are: Currant clearwing moth, Currant 

 aawfly, Currant scale, and Black-Currant mite, among insects, 

 and the coral-spot disease (see page 73) among parasitic fungi. 



Currant Clearwing Moth. — This insect (black, with yellow 

 bands and transparent wings) appears in June, and lays its 

 eggs on the Currant and the Gooseberry, the young caterpillars 

 boring into, and eating the pith of, the shoots, which droop 

 and die. Syringe the bushes occasionally with paraffin emul- 

 sion when the moths are about, and cut ofE and bum any shoots 

 containing the caterpillars. 



Currant and Gooseberry Sawfly. — The little, yellowish 

 flies lay their eggs on the lower side of the leaves, and the 

 tiny caterpillars (greenish, or later orange, with black heads) 

 proceed to defoliate the bushes, afterwards descending into 

 the earth. Pick off the caterpillars, and in winter remove or 

 bury deeply the top two inches of soil. 



Currant Scale. — ^The same treatment as for mussel scale 

 (see page 57.) 



Black-Currant Mite. — ^Too small to be seen with the naked 

 eye, the mites live among the immature leaves folded in the 

 buds, which consequently swell — hence the popular name " big 

 bud " — and afterwards die instead of growing. Cut off and 

 burn all swollen buds. Dust the bushes in March with one 

 part of unslaked lime to two parts of sulphur, and twice 

 afterwards, at intervals of a fortnight, with one part of lime 

 to four of sulphur. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 



Grooseberries should be planted at the same distance as 

 Currants — about five feet apart. As they fruit on the young 

 wood, as well as on spurs, they may be pruned like either 



