64 



or early in May, and lays its eggs on the young gooseberries soon after they are formed. 

 The eggs soon hatch and the tiny caterpillars burrow into the fruit, where they remain 

 in safe concealment. When they have grown considerably they fasten two or more 

 berries together with silken threads, sometimes biting off the stems in order to bring them 

 more easily into the required position, and here they live securely with plenty of food 

 convenient. This tying of the fruit together is more frequently done in the case of the 

 wild gooseberry and the currant, which it also attacks, and whose berries are not large 

 enough to contain the worm. When fully grown the caterpillar lowers itself to the earth 

 by a silken thread, and there spins its cocoon (Fig. 33) among leaves or rubbish on the 

 surface of the ground. In this state it lives all winter, the moth appearing, as already 

 stated, the following spring. 



The most obvious remedies for this pest are (1) picking off by hand all prematurely 

 ripened or discoloured fruit and burning or otherwise destroying them. As, however, 

 the worms are very active and quickly make their escape to the ground when disturbed, 

 a close watch should be kept in order . to trample under foot any that may get away. 

 (2) Clearing up and burning all fallen leaves and other rubbish beneath the infested 

 bushes, after the fruit season is over, and in this way destroying the insect in its chry- 

 salis state. It is also recommended to dust the bushes freely with air-slacked lime early 

 in the spring, renewing the application from time to time as may be necessary, the 

 object being to prevent the moth from laying her eggs on the young fruit. 



The Gooseberry Midge (Cecidomyia grossularice, Fitch) 



Is another enemy to the fruit of the gooseberry. Its presence may be ascertained, as in 

 the case of the previous insect, by the premature ripening or discoloration of the berries. 

 It is a very tiny maggot, of a bright yellow colour and closely resembling the wbeat- 

 midge. It lives within the fruit both in its larval and pupal states, and the minute two- 

 winged fly comes out about the end of July. How the species is perpetuated from one 

 season to another is not yet fully known, but it is supposed that there is another brood in 

 some later fruit or other suitable substance, and that in this way the insect is carried 

 over the winter. 



The same remedies may be employed as those given for the fruit-worm, care ,being 

 taken to destroy the fallen gooseberries early in July, before the fly has had time to 

 complete its transformations. 



The Grape-vine Leaf-hopper (Erythroneura vitis, Harris). 



This little insect, popularly called " The Thrips," often proves very injurious to the 

 vine. The thin-leaved varieties, such as the Clinton and Delaware, suffer much more 

 severely from it than those with thick leathery foliage. We have seen a small vineyard 

 of Clinton grapes almost entirely defoliated before the end of the sumuter by the attacks 

 of this tiny enemy, with the result, of course, that the fruit failed to mature and became 

 simply worthless. The insect, of which there are several species kriown, belongs to the 

 true bugs (Ilemiptera), and like the rest of its order, lives by jiucking the juices of 

 plants. 



The accompanying illustration (Fig. 34) 

 represents the perfect insect, greatly magnified ; 

 the natural size is showa by the short lines to the 

 left of each figure, dne representing the insect 

 with wings expanded ready for flight, the other 

 with the wings closed. The different species 

 vary in colour and markings, but the one shewn 

 here is dusky and red, with pale stripes. 



" These insects — to quote Saunders's Insects 

 Injurious to Fruit — pass the winter in the per- 

 fect state, hibernating under dead leaves or other rubbish, the survivors becoming active 



