March 1895.] 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



803 



When the woolly aphis is discovered in old wounds on the stems 

 and large branches, or other places where there are colonies of 

 the insect, these parts should be treated with a compound of soft- 

 soap and paraffin oil of such a consistency that it can be put on 

 with a brush. Infested boughs and twigs should be syringed 

 with a mixture of 5 or 6 lbs. of soft-soap and 5 gallons of 

 paraffin oil to 100 gallons of water ; or with the extract of 9 lbs. 

 of quassia chips. These applications may be made in the autumn 

 when tlie leaves have fallen, or in the early spring before the 

 leaves have come forth. They can ba put on young trees with 

 a large garden engine or with what is known in liop districts as 

 a " iiop-washer." Other washes may be tried, but soft-soap 

 should be their base. 



In old orchards and plantations, in which pruning has been 

 neglected and the trees densely crowded with intertwisted 

 branches, infested boughs and branches should be cut away as 

 much as possible. Infested places and scars upon the trunks 

 and stems, where colonies of woolly aphides congregate, must be 

 scraped with a bark scraper, and fresh lime-wash brushed in 

 vigorously. The thick soft-soap and paraffin composition would 

 be more effective for this purpose, but it would perhaps be too 

 expensive in the case of large trees. 



Spraying with soft-soap and paraffin, or quassia washes, 

 should be adopted for the infested branches of large trees, 

 according to the receipt given above. If they are much inter- 

 twisted they must be thinned out. In the hop districts of Kent, 

 Worcester, and Hereford horse hop-washers have been used in 

 orchards in a few instances with some advantage. In planta- 

 tions hand-washers must be used with powerful pumps and long 

 lengths of hose. 



Apple trees, whose stems and branches are infested with 

 woolly aphides, should have their roots examined for possible 

 infestation. This is indicated by swellings upon the roots and 

 by the white, woolly groups of insects. The earth should be 

 taken off the main roots, which, in many kinds of apple trees, 

 spread far underground, and from all round the base of the 

 trunks, so that the thick soft-soap and paraffin composition may 

 be brushed well over these parts. Lime- wash may be put on 

 advantageously ; or a composition of soft-soap and carbolic 

 acid at the rate of 1 gallon of carbolic acid to 2 lbs. of soft- 

 soap, put into 16 gallons of water, may be brushed in or 

 syringed over the roots. Water must be added according to 

 requirements. It is desirable that the compositions should be 

 of considerable consistency if merely brushed on. 



Pigs penned in orchards close round infested trees would 

 make the roots and surroundings most unpleasant for the sub- 

 terranean invaders. Watering infested roots with strong liquid 

 manure would be efficacious. In Australia, varieties of apples 

 worked upon stocks of the Northern Spy, an American variety 

 of apple, and the Majetin, a Norfolk (England) variety, are said 

 to be proof against the action of the woolly aphis. According 



