55 



This insect affects both the white and red currant, and to some extent the goose- 

 berry also. Its presence may be known by the sickly appearance of the foliage and the 

 poorness of the fruit. The remedy for it is simply to cut off and burn all the affected 

 stems either in the autumn or early spring, before the final transformation into a 

 moth. 



The other borer, the larva of a beetle, is a native insect, and is therefore commonly 

 called the American Currant-borer (Psenocerus supernotatus, Say). 

 Fig. 10 represents the beetle magnified to show the markings and 

 in outline of the natural size. The larva or grub may be distin- 

 guished from that of the preceding insects by its smaller size and 

 want of feet. Its habits are much the same, as it feeds upon the 

 pith and burrows up and down through the stalk, - but it is more 

 destructive than the larva of the moth from its gregarious life. 

 Usually a number of the grubs, sometimes as many as eight or ten, Fig. 10. 



are found in the same stem, and speedily cause its death. The only remedy seems to be, 

 as in the former case, to cut off and burn all the infested stalks. 



Currant Worms. 



A number of worms feed upon the leaves of the currant and gooseberry, but only 

 "two of them are so commonly destructive as to require notice here. The first and greatest 

 enemy of the gardener in the cultivation of these fruits is the imported Currant Saw-fly 

 {Nematus ventricosus, Klug). This insect has come to us from Europe, and was first 

 observed in America in 1858, since which time it 

 has spread over a large part of the continent. Fig. 

 11 represents (a) the male, and (b) the female Saw- 

 flies ; the hair-lines at the side shew the natural 

 sizes. The body of the male is black above, with a 

 iew dull yellow spots, and beneath yellowish, with 

 bright yellow legs. The female is larger and is 

 especially distinguished by its honey-yellow body. It 

 is well that gardeners should become familiar with 

 these insects in their perfect state, as oftentimes they 

 may be captured on the bushes and readily killed. 



The worms are much more familiar to every 

 fruit-grower. They resemble the caterpillars of butter- 

 flies and moths very much, but differ from them in 

 having feet under the middle segments of the body 

 and many more in number, and also in their habit of 

 curling the terminal segments. When first hatched 

 they are very small, of a whitish colour, with a large 

 head, having a dark round spot on each side of it. 

 They are then gregarious, feeding in companies of 

 thirty or forty on a leaf till they have consumed all the softer parts of it and left nothing 

 but the frame-work remaining. They soon increase in size, being voracious feeders, and 

 gradually scatter all over the bush. Their colour changes with their growth after 

 successive moults, first becoming apple-green, then green with many black dots, and 

 finally plain green, tinged with yellow at each end. The chrysalis is formed within a 

 tough silken cocoon, nearly oval in shape and brownish in colour, and is made among dry 

 leaves or rubbish on the ground, or in the earth a little way beneath the surface. The 

 fly soon emerges and thus there are several broods during the season, necessitating 

 continual watchfulness on the part of the gardener. 



The most effective and simplest remedy is to be found in the application of powdered 

 hellebore mixed with water, in the proportion of an onnce to a pailful, and showered 

 freely over the foliage with a watering-can. If thoroughly applied, especially to the 

 leaves about the bottom and in the middle of the bush, most of the worms will be found 



Fig. 11. 



