ON FRUIT CULTURE. 



I°37 



carefully collect and burn all fruits which fall early in the season. 

 He should also shake the trees to dislodge any fruit attacked 

 which are holding on. The bark should be carefully treated 

 when the trees are at rest in winter, using caustic potash and 

 soda, as elsewhere advised. 



Though the Brindle Beauty Moth (Biston hirtarius, Fig. 671) 

 is usually regarded as partial to Oak and to Elm, yet it now and 



again appears as a pest to Plum- 

 and less often to Pear-growers. 

 The- Moth has greyish - brown 

 forewings, with irregular trans- 

 verse markings and slightly paler 

 hindwings. The larva is reddish- 

 brown or purplish-brown, relieved 

 by a yellowish- 

 brown band 

 and yellowish 

 dots. It is 

 found in 

 early summer. 

 Spraying with 

 Paris Green is 

 the best re- 

 medy, as the 

 ca terp illars 

 are voracious 

 eaters. They 

 pupate beneath the soil and remain there until the next season. 



Belonging to the genus Exoascus, one species of which has 

 already been noticed as injurious to Peach-trees, causing Leaf- 

 Curl, is a fruit-deforming kind, E. pruni. This is responsible for 

 the Pocket Plums or Bladder Plums. The latter is a most 

 appropriate name, as affected Plums resemble a blown-out bladder. 

 The disease attacks the young fruit, which undergoes modifications 

 quite deforming it and rendering it useless. Such Bladder 

 Plums are tough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow, or reddish and stone- 

 less, and in late summer are covered with a glaucous powdery 

 substance, by means of which the disease is spread. Unfor- 

 tunately, the mycelium is of perennial duration, and therefore it 

 is not sufficient to destroy the Bladder Plums. Professor Mar- 

 shall Ward recommends, in his excellent little work upon " Plant 

 Diseases," to prune back to the old wood. Spraying with Bordeaux 

 Mixture two or three times at intervals early in the season would 

 act as a preventive to this and many other fungoid diseases. 



Fig. 671. — Caterpillar and Perfect Insect of 

 Brindle Beauty Moth. 



Quinces. 



In the Open. — Unlike most fruit trees, the Quince succeeds 

 best in moist soils or situations, and is therefore at home by the 



