INSECT AND OTHER PLANT ENEMIES. 



71 



inner bark and cambium layer, where it finds a 

 rich store of food. When a tree is once at- 

 tacked, repeated generations are bred there, 

 and may be found at all seasons of the year. 

 Great cankerous wounds are produced in time, 

 rendering the trees unhealthy and liable to be 

 snapped across by the wind. 



Remedies. — Badly-infested trees, unless very 

 valuable, should be cut down and burned. In 

 the case of smooth-barked young trees, the 

 caterpillars may be destroyed by pushing a 

 wire into their burrows. Where only small 

 patches of the bark are infested, these may be 

 shaved off with some sharp instrument, without 

 injuring the inner bark if possible, and the 

 materials burned. Where the bark has been 

 removed are favourite places for the moth to 

 lay fresh batches of eggs, and to prevent this 

 the trunk and larger branches should be syringed 

 several times during summer with strong soap- 

 suds, Gishurst compound, or painted over with 

 soft soap to which some washing-soda has been 

 added, and diluted to a thin paint with water. 



Bud and Flower Enemies. 



Apple - blossom Weevil (Anthonomus 

 pomorum). — The weevil is 1J to 2 lines long, 

 with a long slender beak, and has a pitchy-brown 

 body covered with short gray hairs. The wing- 

 cases are rusty-red with a black margin, and 



Fig. 87.— Apple-blossom Weevil (Anthonomus poynorum). 



are covered with whitish hairs; the legs and 

 antennae are also rusty-red. When the flower- 

 buds of the Apple are fairly well developed in 

 spring, the female weevil busies herself laying 

 a single egg in each. Egg-laying continues till 

 the blossom expands, but not later, and the eggs 

 hatch in about six days, and the weevil passes 

 through all its stages in a month. The grub 

 is white with a black head, legless, and feeds 

 upon the stamens and ovary, while the petals 

 wither and never open. 



Remedies. — Clean culture is a primary requi- 

 site as a means of prevention; the removal of 



all rubbish from the ground, as well as moss 

 and rough bark from the trunk, prevents the 

 weevils from finding secure hiding-places in 

 winter. As the females generally crawl up the 

 trunks and seldom resort to flying, many of 

 them may be intercepted on their way up by 

 tying strips of brown paper or tarpaulin thickly 

 smeared with cart-grease round the stem of the 

 trees about the end of March and onwards. 

 During April, and especially on fine days, when 

 the eggs are being laid, cloths may be spread 

 under trees that are known to be affected; 

 then by tapping the trees or shaking the 

 branches the alarmed weevils drop on to the 

 cloths and may be destroyed. All unopened 

 and withered blossoms should be collected and 

 burned before the grubs hatch out. 



Carrot -blossom Moth (Depressaria Pas- 

 tinacella). — The perfect insect is a small creature 

 somewhat like a clothes-moth, and slightly under 

 an inch in the expanse of its wings, the fore ones 

 of which are ashy-gray with white specks and a 

 few brown streaks. The caterpillar is greenish- 

 gray, \ inch long, and may be found in the 

 umbels of flowers of Carrots and Parsnips 

 during July and August. It draws the umbel 

 together with threads and consumes both 

 flowers and young seeds at its leisure. It is 

 therefore only harmful to a seed-crop. 



Remedies. — The wriggling caterpillars are very 

 active and drop down when disturbed. They 

 may therefore be collected in sieves covered 

 with paper or a white cloth, or, what is more 

 certain, tarred trays may be carried along the 

 lines of flowering plants and the umbels of 

 blossom shaken over them. The plants might 

 also be dusted with hellebore powder while yet 

 wet with dew, or they might be syringed and 

 then dusted. 



Cockroaches. — The common Cockroach 

 (Blatta orientalis) is a large insect, active all 

 through life, and in the larval stage varies from 

 a pale to a deep reddish-brown, while the adult 

 appears almost black. The females have rudi- 

 mentary wings only, but the males, when fully 

 grown, have large wings, the front pair of which 

 are brown and horny, covering the folded and 

 membranous hinder ones when at rest. The 

 antenna? or horns are generally longer than the 

 body, but the wing-covers and wings are shorter. 

 The American Cockroach (Blatta or Peiiplaneta 

 americana) is a much larger insect, about 

 1J inch long and | inch wide. It is brown 

 or grayish-brown, and the wing-covers and 

 wings are longer than the body in both sexes. 

 The horns of the male are 2 inches lono\ The 



