THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



323 



Apple Bug. Ammoniacal liquor and tobacco-water 

 and liquid ammonia are also effectual. Some of 

 these, however, must be used with caution, and con- 

 centrated upon the insects, as if too strong they would 

 penetrate and injure the bark and wood of the trees, 

 these being already soft and rendered abnormally 

 pervious by the operation of the bugs. Hence, among 

 the safest remedies for these pests, and also one that 

 tends to heal, and not further to blister or injure the 

 already diseased parts, is to smear the affected parts, 

 or the whole tree over, with coarse whale or other 

 fish oil. The filamentaceous appendages get hopelessly 

 entangled in this, and the insect either perishes in 

 the oil bath, or seeks less rich and slippery quarters. 

 The remedy is still more efficacious if a hard brush is 

 used on each visible patch of insects before the oil is 

 applied. This crushes and annihilates air the older 

 bugs, and the oil is sufficient to smear over and hold 

 fast all the young ones, and is in fact as effectual as 

 thicker smears of lime, sulphiir, or other matters, 

 made into a thick paste with tobacco- juice, soap-suds, 

 i )r other smears, poisoned by dangerous additions of 

 nux vomica, arsenic, and other drugs. 



Another great advantage of the oil smear is that 

 it makes the trees so offensive to the bugs in their 

 winged state, that they will shun such trees as 

 hatching-grounds for many years afterwards. 



The great difficulty with large trees is how to get 

 at the pest. Much, however, may be done with 

 brushes mounted on long handles, and, fortunately, 

 the Apple Bug reveals itself afar off by its long white 

 whiskers. However, it must be confessed that most 

 of our cures are far more applicable to the miniature 

 trees of our gardens than the larger Apple-trees in 

 parks, or in orchards. For the latter, powerful over- 

 head washings with the garden engine, with weak 

 sewage ; a half-and-half of ammoniacal or gas-water, 

 of ordinary strength, and clean water; strong tobacco- 

 water ; a quarter of a pint of paraffin to a gallon of 

 water, well mixed, or with clean water, so soon as 

 the leaf falls, repeated several times, will sensibly 

 reduce, even if it does not absolutely destroy, this 

 troublesome pest. Then, in the spring the trees 

 ought to be gone over carefully, and any speck seen, 

 and all the old premises where they have been, 

 touched with some of our killing mixtures. This re- 

 peated several years in succession, and the roots 

 soaked through to drown it out from them, and the 

 Apple Bug disajjpears. In the garden, and with 

 the miniature trees of modern times, the cure of 

 American blight is merely a matter of careful mani- 

 pulation and good culture. 



Aphides or Green-flies.— These seldom prove 

 ver^- troublesome to the Apples. Now and then, 

 however, they come in a sudden flight, mostly after 



an east wind ; hence, the common saying, the Green- 

 fly comes on the wings of the east wind, the fact 

 being probably that the wind checks, and thereby 

 sweetens the sap, and makes it worth while for tLe 

 Aphides to try Apple diet for a few weeks. If 

 noticed on their arrival, run the hand lightly over 

 the shoots, and rub or squash off all the flies be- 

 tween finger and thumb. If this seems impossible, 

 syringe them with tobacco-water, diluted with about 

 four parts of water, according to the strength of the 

 former ; or should they appear, as they often do, 

 rather late in the season — say the middle of June — 

 cut all the Aphides-infected tops clean off, and lay 

 them carefully in a box or basket to be burned, thus, 

 cleaning and summer-stopping the Apple-trees at 

 one operation. 



The Brown or Apple-tree Mussel Scale 



(Aspidiotus conchiformis). — This is not very common, 

 but is occasionally troublesome, and should be re- 

 moved. It seriously injures the tree by feeding on 

 its bark, and clings so closely to it that it is apt to 

 escape detection. The best remedies are hot soap 

 and water, and a very hard brush, and an immediate 

 smear of equal parts of quicklime, sulphur, and clay, 

 made into a paste with strong tobacco- juice, to make 

 sure of smothering any that may have escaped 

 washing off. These washings and smearings are 

 best given in the autumn, but should any still escape^ 

 it is good practice to renew the scrubbing in May, 

 when, however, a dry hard brush is perhaps more 

 eft'ective than a wet one. The young scales will then 

 be on the move, and if roughly and hardly scrubbed, 

 they are readily smashed ; and when once distui-bed 

 by force, they seldom lay hold a second time. Some 

 have applied tar dressings, but these need care, and 

 only vegetable tar must be used, reduced in strength 

 by mixing clay and water with it. Paraffin and other 

 oils are also obnoxious or destructive to scale, and it 

 is found that a coat of oleaginous matter of any sort 

 clogs their vital powers or destroys them, or makes 

 them decamp, which latter is a slow and uncertain 

 process. 



The Apple Maggot or Codling Moth 



{Carpocapsa ponionana). — This, though by no means 

 the only Apple Moth, is by far the most common, 

 and the most destructive. It appears somewhat 

 later than the other insects, and attacks the firmer 

 parts that these have left undevoured. The moth 

 appears early in the season, and lays its eggs in the 

 eyes of the Apples in May. If it does not succeed in 

 its election of this part, it chooses a spot just near 

 the stalk, the first however being its favom-ite spot, 

 though the hollow that forms the eye, and surrounds 

 the stalks, suits the moth almost equally well. The 



