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purpose as well as anything I know of. Then there is the oyster 



scale, a large round scale on the trees. The codlin moth grub 



also attacks the pear, and we have the red spider and the fungus 



called the sooty fungus. The tree turns black all over. The 



only remedy for that is either spraying the trees with carbolic acid 



— I find that the most successful— or dusting them with lime. 



And then there is the root-borer in the pear. The root-borer and 



the pear slug are the worst. The cherry tree is afflicted with a 



small caterpillar, which punctures the fruit as soon as it is 



formed, bores a hole right in the centre, and the fruit withers and 



dies, leaving only half a crop. That can only be got at by 



spraying with Paris green or any other poison that will kill the pest 



without harming the tree. Then there is the cherry borer. The only 



remedy is to scrape out the spot, and have a little can filled with 



kerosene or eucalyptus, and inject that into the hole and plug the 



hole up with soil or clay. Then there is the gumming of the 



tree. It is necessary to scrape that off and paint the tree with a 



mixture of cow-dung and clay, which heals the wound. The 



plum tree is afflicted with the pear slug, the red grub — something 



like the codlin moth grub, but it is not the same — the rust, the 



red spider, and also the borer, so that all those varieties of trees 



are afflicted with those pests, and it takes a considerable amount 



of work to eradicate them and keep them down. The number of 



insect pests that affect our trees as a whole is about twenty, and 



the number of scales eight. The pear slug is causing devastation 



all through within 20 miles of Melbourne, and it is spreading in 



spite of us. If something is not done to cause every one to take 



united action, the result will be very serious. The first time I saw 



the slug was in the spring of 1888. The saw fly appears about 



the 8th of October, sometimes ,the 11th — last year it was the 



11th — and it commences to lay its eggs on the leaf. The slug is 



the larva of the saw-fly ; and the slug, after having changed its skin 



four times, becomes of a yellow orange colour. It descends the 



tree and spins itself a cocoon of earth joined by some threads of 



silk, where it is hardened to a leather-like toughness, and forms a 



protection from wet. I have watched it carefully, and I think 



there are four broods in the season — One in October, the first 



brood ; in December, January, and again in March. They are 



now on the trees busy, the last brood. Last year it was here nine 



months, from October to June. It is spreading very fast all round. 



I have seen it in all the suburban area, that is within 20 miles of 



Melbourne. It will spread all over the colony, and is causing 



great destruction to the trees. It attacks the cherry, plum, pear, 



qumce, cherry plum ; and the hawthorn hedges are a perfect 



harbor for them. It will kill all the trees if not stopped, and 



somethmg must be done to get united action in the matter. 



