134 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



For red spider the cold-water cure mostly suffices in 

 the open. Apply it in force and violence twice a day 

 through the garden-engine, and the spider will dis- 

 appear. Soap and sulphur are also effective alike as 

 preventives and cures. 



Copious root- waterings, should the borders he dry, 

 will also help the trees to grow out of spider. For 

 the cure of brown scale and thrip, there is 

 nothing to be added to what has been advised for 

 the destruction of the same pests under glass, only 

 that heavy dressings of soot and strong decoctions of 

 soot-tea — the strength of the soot seems better 

 drawn out when a fourth of quicklime is added to 

 the soot — are an excellent preventive, and a good 

 cure for thrip on the Peach. It mostly originates 

 in extreme dryness at the roots, or heat on the tops. 

 Over- cropping and exhaustion also induce thrip and 

 red spider. 



There are a good many insects and other pests 

 that attack the Peach in the open air, and are hardly 

 known under glass. A few of these prey upon the 

 leaves, branches, or flowers, and others attack the 

 fruit. Among the first is the red-legged garden 

 weevil, Otiorhynchns tenebrico&ns, which preys upon 

 the roots, buds, leaves, and young shoots. The best 

 remedy is to search for them at night, secure and 

 destroy them. The soil could also be removed for a 

 few inches round the stem and burned, as they 

 bury themselves during the day. The caterpillar 

 of the Figure 8 moth, the Plum-tree chafer, and the 

 grub of the Peach saw-fly often work sad havoc on 

 Peach-trees, unless eagerly sought for and promptly 

 destroyed. Very fortunately, the last and worst of 

 these grubs, that of the Peach and Poplar saw-fly, 

 Tenthredo populi, makes its home by spinning a web 

 among the leaves. These are easily seen and picked 

 off, and the grubs thus destroyed. 



Among the insects or vermin that prey upon 

 Peaches and Nectarines on the open wall, the follow- 

 ing are the most troublesome : — Earwigs, ants, wood- 

 lice, black-beetles, ladybirds, wasps, hornets, bees, 

 blue-bottles, butterflies, mice, rats, squirrels, birds, 

 and fowls. The first must be trapped by placing reeds 

 or Bean-stalks with one end beneath the branches. 

 The earwigs, after feeding, will creep into these for 

 shelter, and must be blown out into a cold or hot 

 bath in a jug or pail, every morning. Perseverance 

 in this simple mode of destruction soon clears the 

 tree of these troublesome pests. Ants are often far 

 more destructive than earwigs. It is a popular error 

 to welcome them as allies in clearing the trees of 

 aphides. They simply milk them dry and carry 

 them to new pastures, and thus increase the plague 

 of aphides. Traps of sugar and arsenic are de- 

 structive to the ants, but dangerous. Smears of oil, 

 when they allure, destroy the ants, or render them 



harmless, but they are not very effective against the 

 counter-attraction of luscious Peaches. The surest 

 remedy is to water them out of their nests by boiling 

 water where the former are not among the roots, 

 with strong manure or guano water where they are. 

 The conversion of their runs or nests into swamps 

 either fixes them in, drives them out, or kills them. 



Wood-lice are seldom troublesome unless on old 

 walls. The best traps are small garden-pots with 

 a bit of moss placed over a piece of Potato in 

 the bottom of the pot. The wood-lice run into these 

 for food or shelter, and then remain to sleep or rest. 

 By emptying the pots every morning wood-lice may 

 be cleared off. The same traps are best for black- 

 beetles and ladybirds. The latter, however, are 

 seldom very troublesome, and then they are easily 

 caught on the feed. But, unless very numerous, they 

 do as much or more good than harm by eating 

 aphides. 



As to wasps and hornets, the nests of these must 

 be destroyed, and these, and bees, bluebottle-flies, 

 and butterflies must be trapped in bottles of various 

 shapes, baited with beer and sugar. Bees seldom 

 attack Peaches in force, but when they do they 

 are very destructive, and must share the fate of 

 others. A useful wasp-trap is formed of two hand- 

 lights — the first raised on a brick at each corner, the 

 second placed over the first. One or more squares 

 are left out, or holes made in the head of the lower 

 light. The ground under the bottom light is then 

 baited with a few pieces of Peach or other fruit. 

 The wasps and hornets enter freely to feed, fly up 

 to the top of the light, pass through the opening 

 between the two, never return, and perish by whole- 

 sale of heat or suffocation. 



Mice, rats, squirrels, and .birds must be kept down 

 by trapping, and the latter two may be netted out, 

 though squirrels make short work of the nets with 

 their sharp teeth. A pair of squirrels will also 

 speedily clear a large tree of Peaches, as they not 

 only eat rapidly, but carry them away wholesale. 

 Fowls and pheasants must be driven or scared away. 

 Once either get a taste for Peaches, it is most difficult 

 to keep them from them afterwards. In addition to 

 these, snails and slugs occasionally put in an appear- 

 ance, but as these leave tracks behind them they 

 may be easily traced and destroyed. Their lairs 

 should also be rooted out, and dressed with quick- 

 lime. 



Diseases of the Peach. — Gumming and Mil- 

 dew have already been treated of in The Peach and 

 Nectarine under Glass. 



Blister results in the swelling, distortion, and 

 complete destruction of the functions of the leaf. 

 As blistering is almost unknown under glass, there 



