ABSTRACTS. 



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to show how destructive ants are to garden plants and their fruits, notwith- 

 standing the statements made by other observers, who contend that ants 

 are useful in destroying insect pests such as mealy bug, which infests so 

 many plants under glass-house culture. " Hibernia " even asserts that 

 ants provide and encourage mealy bug in order to provide themselves 

 with food, while waiting for luscious Peaches and other fruits to ripen. 

 It is not 'common knowledge that ants are capable of providing a stock of 

 mealy bug on plants for convenient consumption, and the assertion is of 

 sufficient importance to encourage investigation. 



Whether ants " poison " soil about the roots of plants by leavening it 

 with formic acid is also a subject of interest. The writer of this abstract 

 is inclined to the truth of this assertion, as cases have come under his 

 notice where Clematis and other plants have been killed when the roots 

 have been growing in ant-infested soil.— W. G. 



Ants, White. By C, L Marlatt {U.S.A. Dept. Agric. Div. Entom., 

 Bull. 50, 6 1902 ; 4 figs.). — An account of the interesting life-history and 

 social economy of the white ant of America (Tcrmes flavipes, Koll.) which 

 does great damage to houses, furniture, books, and sometimes trees and 

 herbaceous plants. The insect, which is a member of the order Ncuro- 

 ptcva, has been imported into Europe, where it is now rather widely dis- 

 tributed. Remedies are suggested, such as the removal of all decaying 

 stumps (the normal habitat of the insect), complete dryness of the build- 

 ings, &c, and in cases of bad attack, when prompt measures are necessary, 

 fumigation with hydrocyanic acid. — F. J. C. 



Apple, Black Spot of the, together with Spraying* for Fungus 

 Diseases. By D. McAlpine (Bull. Dep. Agr. Vict. No. 3, 1902 ; plates 

 i-xi., pp. 1-29). — The fungus here dealt with is Fusicladium dendriticum. 

 Its effect upon the fruit is the most noticeable feature of the disease to 

 the fruit-grower, yet, as a rule, the fungus first appears on the leaves 

 and may attack the young shoots as well. The result often is that the 

 leaf is completely destroyed by the fungus and the tree is deprived of the 

 necessary nourishment obtained by means of the leaves. The extent of 

 the damage varies, in the first place, according to the varieties : some are 

 practically immune, while others are very susceptible ; and, secondly, to 

 certain climatic conditions favourable to the disease. The three most 

 useful preparations recommended for this pest are the Bordeaux and 

 Copper-soda mixtures, and the simple solution of copper sulphate. The 

 first-named has, so far, given the most satisfactory results. It is a com- 

 pound of bluestone and lime. " There are strictly no defined proportions 

 in which these constituents should be mixed, though it is known that 

 the lower the proportion of lime present, provided the mixture is not acid, 

 the more satisfactory are the results." The methods of preparing the 

 Bordeaux mixture are carefully detailed. — B. N. 



Apple, Peasgood's 4 Gold Reinette.' By W. Nollenberg (Die 

 Gart. p. 61, 8/11/1902, with illustration).— Of the many sorts of Apples 

 introduced to Germany from Great Britain as excellent new sorts, the 

 greater number are useless, but this is one of the very best, adapted for 

 the German climate and a first-class cropper, keeping well till the end of 



