496 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



7. Stem Eclwt 



STEM EEL WORM. 



2. Stein Eelworm just 

 J. Stem Eelwonn egg in tissues of a plant ; 



gmereed from the eg, 

 ■ill highly mag. 



to revive after having 

 years. They will pas 



been dried up for more than two 

 quite unhurt through the body of 

 an animal that has been led on an infested crop, so that 

 •t is most unwise to use manure from animals that have 

 been fed with anything the Eel worm has attacked. 

 Frog'hopper, The [Aphrophora spumaria) — Everyone 

 must have noticed little masses of froth on different kind? 

 ol plants during the summer, which are generally known 

 as "cuckoo spit" or "frog spittle,' but comparatively 

 tew know in what way, or by what means, they are 

 produced. Those who only know the froghopper in its 

 mature condition will he surprised to find that it spends 

 the whole oi : is youth in (his spittle, which it forms as a 

 protection to itsell. It will he at once seen that the 

 insect must subtract a considerable amount of sap from 

 the plant to prov ide not onh ior its own sustenance, but 

 also lor the formation, ami to supply the waste which 

 must occur from evaporation, of these masses of (roth. 

 When a plant, therefore, is attacked by several of these 

 insects, the injury it sustains is very great. Carnations, 

 Honeysuckles, Lavender, Lilies, Phloxes, and Grasses are 

 among those that are most frequently infested. The 

 simplest way of dealing with this insect is to take a small 

 vessel ot water (a mug is as good as anything) and a 

 small stiffish brush, and with the latter to take oft' the 

 froth in such a way as to remove the insect at 

 the same time ; the brush should then be dipped 

 in water to cleanse it before using it again, or the 

 infested part of the plant may be drawn through 

 the fingers and the insects crushed. The 

 application ot insecticides is not of much use, but 

 ll there be an unusual number of these insects on 

 a plant, syringe it with paraffin emulsion, taking 

 care that it is applied with sufficient force to wash 

 away the both and wet the insect. The young 

 froghopper is of a pale green colour, with rather 

 large prominent dark eyes, and may measure 

 almost ]in. in length. The mature froghopper is 

 rather larger, and varies in colour from yellowish 

 brown to almost black. 



Gall Mites (/ hyioptus ribis) and others.— 



There are several kinds of gall mites, but only 

 three are interesting to gardeners from a horticul- 

 turist's point of view — the Currant Gall Mite 

 (Phytoptus ribis), the Nut Gall Mite (P. avellanas), 

 and the Pear Gall Mite (P. pvri). The first two 

 attack their victims in a similar way, so much so 

 that one may employ the same methods of destruc- 

 tion in both cases ; the mites themselves are so 

 much alike that they may be really the same 

 species. These mites live in the buds, and a large 

 number generally may be found in the same bud. 

 The result of these pe^ts feeding on the juices of 



the unopened leaves is that the latter do 

 not open with the others, but merely 

 swell to a certain extent. When, as is 

 sometimes the case in a bad attack, 

 nearly every bud on a Currant shoot is 

 rendered " blind," the injury to the 

 crop is very severe. Black Currants are 

 much more frequently attacked than red 

 or white ones. This is a very difficult 

 pest to get rid of, for as the mites are 

 so small as to be invisible without a 

 magnifying glass, and as no insecticide 

 can reach them when they are within 

 the buds, it is a matter of some difficulty 

 to know how to proceed. When a shoot 

 has several infested buds on it, cut it off 

 and burn it ; if only one or two, pick off 

 and burn them. When pruning bushes 

 that have been attacked, cut them back 

 very hard, and the slumps of the shoots 

 should lie dressed with paraffin emul- 

 sion. The galls leave the old and 

 then dying galls about the end of 

 June, collecting at the base of the 

 leaf stalks, and infesting the new- 

 buds as soon as they are large enough. This would 

 appeal the time to apply an insecticide to the bushes, 

 but as the fruit is ripening it is difficult to do so. 

 These miles are long, narrow, and somewhat cylin- 

 drical, and about four times as long as they are broad. 

 They are very minute, being not more than l-20oin. 

 in length and o 1 a milky while colour. They may be 

 distinguished from other mites by having only two pairs 

 of legs instead of lour, and these legs are placed close to 

 the head, but at the other extremity of the body there is 

 a kind of sucker foot. The Pear-leaf blister mite 

 (Phytoptus pvri ) greatly resembles the foregoing species 

 in appearance, but it attacks the Pear leaves in a very 

 different manner, as it forms small blisters like galls on 

 them. I he miles begin to attack the leaves when they 

 are unfolding, and the galls show as small thickened 

 spots, in the centre of whii h, on the under-side of the 

 leaf, is a small opening ; the eggs are laid in these 

 blisters, and the young mites soon leave the gall and 

 begin to form fresh ones. In this way the leaf quickly 

 becomes covered, and so rendered useless. The best 

 remedy is to pick off the infested leaves as soon as the 

 attack is noticed, and trees that are too large to be treated 



in this way 

 diluted with 



should be sprayed with paraffin emulsion, 

 live times the amount of water, any time 



GALL MITE. 



1. The Black Currant Gall Mile, mag. 400 times. 2. Tims of Black Currant 



with healthy buds. 3. 1 wig uj Black Currant with infeJed buJS. 



