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or orchard, laying their eggs on any small patch of thistles or 

 weeds. It is from the young fry hatched in the orchard the 

 damage is done to the fruit. It is about sixteen years since they 

 did considerable damage to my fruit; since then I keep the ground 

 well stirred when they are about, so as not to allow any weeds for 

 them to mature upon. The codlin moth I have not had much 

 experience with, and this is only the second season that I have 

 noticed it, it only thinned out my apples; but I caught a moth in 

 December, and I found eggs on the outside of the apples. The 

 heat seems to dry them up. I lost seven bee-hives this season 

 with the moth. To legislate to make the orchardist keep his trees 

 clean, when his neighbours' hives, &c., have got the moth, would 

 be an act of injustice. I think if the Health Act was put in 

 force, prosecuting all sellers of diseased apple*, it would enable 

 the diligent and industrious man who keeps the codlin moth in 

 check to obtain a better price for his fruit, and the public would 

 not be imposed upon. 



To legislate to compel owners to keep orange and lemon trees 

 clean of scale, when it is on many garden shrubs and on various 

 plants through our forests to the coast, would not be reasonable. 

 I think we must look to the cause of scale and want of thrift in 

 many of our orange and lemon trees, to climatic influence and 

 grafting on the wrong stock. The olive in my district is a great 

 breeding ground for scale. 



The aphis gave the growers very little trouble about 30 years 

 ago, as the hot winds cleared them early ofE the trees, and 

 fruit trees were planted on land containing the alluvial deposit of 

 ages, which stimulated their growth, and they were surrounded 

 by a forest, which kept the atmosphere moist. 



The nurseryman is not troubled much with the aphis, he puts 

 the seed in well-trenched and manured land, mulched on the 

 surface, and he keeps the trees growing closely together, with 

 the hose continually watering them. His strongest trees are very 

 often the worst blighted when planted out, which shows they 

 have been reduced to poverty, hence the parasite; we must look 

 to the root before spraying the head. 



The root-borer of the apple is one of the worst pests we have 

 to deal with until we have more information of the habit of the 

 insect. With me, it destroyed most of the apple trees when they 

 began to bear. It destroyed the Newtown Pippin, Five Crown, 

 and Cleopatra, and left the Rymer healthy between them. I think 

 from that, the insect that comes to the surface finds the blossom 

 or fruit of the Eymer is not suitable to its taste. 



We used to look upon the vine bug, a few years ago, as a 

 friend which destroyed the vine caterpillar. The last two seasons 

 the bug has come too late, but in time to put its trunk in the early 



