514 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



sulphur and an equal volume of quicklime 

 in a glazed earthen vessel, with five pints of 

 water : it should be allowed to boil ten minutes, 

 and kept constantly stirred, after which it should 

 be allowed to settle, and the clear liquid to cool ; 

 and after diluting with a hundred pints of water, 

 it should be applied to the trees by the syringe 

 or engine. In peach-houses, dry sijphurating is 

 the safest, as there is danger in washing the 

 flues or hot-water pipes with either sulphur 

 alone, or combined in this way with lime ; but 

 in either case the heated surface must not ex- 

 ceed the temperature of 2 1 2°. 



The origin and nature of honey dew are even 

 more undetermined than of mildew, some be- 

 lieving it to be an exudation from the leaves, 

 caused by the puncture of aphides; others, that 

 it is a species of excrement passed by them; 

 and many, that it is an exudation of super- 

 abundant saccharine matter, caused by a heated 

 and dry state of thf atmosphere. Whatever its 

 cause may be, it is highly injurious, as it not 

 only covers the surface of the leaves with a 

 thick glutinous substance, but its adhesiveness 

 causes dust and other filth to accumulate upon 

 them, till at last their pores of respiration are 

 completely sealed up, and their vital functions 

 become suspended. Copious syringing is the 

 best remedy. 



Blistering, wrinkling, or curling up of the 

 leaves, is seldom met with in peach-houses ; on 

 the open walls it is of not unfrequent occurrence. 

 The very circumstance here I'eferred to certainly 

 points pretty nearly to the cause; namely, a 

 want of reciprocity between the action of the 

 roots and leaves, the latter drawing more rapidly 

 on the former than they are adequate to. 

 Blistering usually takes place when the leaves 

 are from half to nearly fully grown, at which 

 time their sap-vessels are enlarging rapidly to 

 contain the supply expected from the roots, and 

 which enlargement of vessels is encouraged in 

 consequence of their being placed in front of a 

 brick wall, and stimulated by the reflected heat 

 from it and the warm shelter it affords, particu- 

 larly in bright sunshine. In fact, the leaves at 

 that time are growing rapidly, while the roots, 

 on the other hand, are fighting their way in a 

 cold, nay, probably also a wet substratum, almost 

 paralysed from want of heat, and hence unable 

 to send into the leaves that supply of sap they 

 require to enable them to develop so rapidly as 

 the position they are placed in would otherwise 

 enable them to do. Their sap-vessels, not being 

 charged with sap so rapidly as they are forming, 

 and themselves acted upon by the heat of the 

 wall, perhaps not less than 80°, while the roots 

 are not above 45", begin to collapse and pucker 

 up, and assume the appearance so well known 

 as blister, curl, &c. This, like many other dis- 

 eases, is laid to the charge of the east wind, 

 while, in fact, it has nothing to do in the mat- 

 ter. Trees in properly prepared borders, either 

 thoroughly drained or vaulted, the roots kept 

 near the surface, and the soil unpolluted with 

 doses of manure, very seldom show a curled or 

 blistered leaf. 



Blotches on the young wood may be traced 

 partly to the same cause, and also to the borders 



being made too rich. As soon as the shoot 

 appears affected, it should be cut out without 

 loss of time somewhat below where the disease 

 has appeared; for on cutting the shoot through, 

 even where the bark may appear sound, the 

 disease will be found to have extended down- 

 ward, and may readily be seen by the discolour- 

 ation in the wood. 



Insects. — The red spider, Aearus telarius, fig. 

 22, is always destruc- 

 Fig. 228. tive in peach-houses 



when a high dry tem- 

 perature is maintain- 

 ed. On the open 

 walls it is less trouble- 

 some, unless in dry 

 hot summers. Its 

 appearance, in both 

 cases, indicates suffi- 

 ciently that the trees 

 are sadly neglected 

 as regards syringing. 

 For description and 

 means of destruction, 

 ■eide p. 77. 



Two species of 

 thrips, Thrips adoni- 

 dum and T. ochraceus, 

 are often injurious to 

 the peach. For de- 

 scription and means 

 of destruction, vide 

 fig. 21, p. 76. 



The earwig, For- 

 ficula auriculans 

 Linn., fig. 228, is very 

 THE EARWIG. iujurious, not only to 



many flowering plants, but to fruit trees also. 

 Amongst the latter, the peach and apricot are 

 often attacked when the fruit is ripening; and so 

 also, in some localities, are the pear and apple. Its 

 habitation is usually under the old bark of fruit 

 trees, in the hollow stems of decayed ones, and 

 under stones and elsewhere, wherever there is 

 a dry and dark abode to be found. Its attacks 

 are upon the ripening fruit, which it devours 

 internally, often leaving the empty skin seem- 

 ingly as perfect as if its pvilp were left entire. 

 It is too well known to require a lengthened 

 description. When fully grown it measures 

 from eight to ten lines in length of body, in- 

 cluding the forceps-like appendage at the end of 

 the abdomen. It, however, varies according to 

 age and sex. The body has very short wing- 

 cases, which conceal the wings, which are folded 

 up both length and breadth ways. The body is 

 destitute of hair, of a light brown colour, and 

 about two lines in breadth; the only practicable 

 mode of suppression is catching the insect in 

 traps, of which the following are the most effi- 

 cient : small empty flower-pots stuck inverted 

 amongst the branches of the trees, or elevated 

 on the poles or supports used for dahlias, to the 

 flowers of which they are very destructive, 

 having a little dry moss placed within them, in 

 which the insect takes shelter duringthe day. 

 If these are examined daily, a number of the 

 enemy will be discovered, and should be shaken 

 out into a watering-pot half filled with water. 



