154 



Insect Pests. 



twenty years, ilr. Ellis has had it in his phiiitations near Godal- 

 ming ill Surrey for many years, ilany growers in Kent have had it 

 constantly working year after year. Certain i)lantations are infested 

 more than otliers, of course, but tlrere are few whicli I have visited 

 in which it could not be detected. Daring a tour of inspection in 

 1906 of the plantations in Worcestershire \erj few places w^ere found 

 where it was not more or less harmful, and there are growers who 

 Considered that the estimateil damage to the apple crop, namely 70 per 

 cent., was too lo-w. In some ])arts it certainly was, for the whole 

 bli.issom had been destroyed (4). Mr. Denis Best informed me that 

 at one of his plantations at Holt Castle he had jiicked no apples for 

 fifteen years owing to the Sucker. It is also harmful in Herefordshire. 

 ilr. Getting of Eoss writes that it is very troublesome to some of 

 his apples. The insect is also common in Norfolk, Hrrntingdonshire, 

 < l.xfordshire, Itorsetshire and Cloucestershire. During a visit to 

 some Devon plantations in 1906 and 1907 very little of this apple 

 enemy was detected and growers there scarcely knew what it was. 

 Mr. W. Bear tells me it is not present in his plantations to any 

 extent now at Hailsham. 



The damage done by it is mainly to the blossoms, but leaf-buds 



are also attacked. This latter 

 damage was specially noticed at 

 AA've ''in 1901. The attacked leaf- 

 buds when they open produce only 

 stunted and deformed leaves (Fig. 

 127). Besides being crinkled and 

 deformed, the foliage presents a 

 pallid a]ipearaiice, often looking 

 frosted ; sometimes these lea^■es 

 die off, at others they gradually 

 reeo\"er. 



The damage tu the blossmn- 

 buds and blossoms is much more 

 marked and abuiulaut. Fi\'i|Uently 

 the liuds never proiierly open and 

 when many of the vuung " suckers" 

 ha\'e entered, the blossom is irre- 

 parably damaged before expanding. 

 If only a few are present then the blossom shows well, but before 

 the petals are ready to fall they shri^■el u]i and a dried lirown tru.-s 

 reniains. This is a very marked sign of Bsylla attack, and it is 

 noticed (4) that the dead bhissom hangs on the trees a lon^- time, 



. ]'27.— i)Ai\iA(;i' 



I'll FiilJAilF, CV AIM'LF 



