Dec. 1896.] 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



279 



paraffin oil to 100 gallons of water. In mixing the paraffin washes 

 the soap should be dissolved in hot water and the paraffin put in 

 whilst it is hot, and the whole incorporated into a cream with 

 a hand pump, or syringe, working the liquid up and down. 

 Cold water must then be added in proper proportions. 



In old orchards and plantations in which pruning has been 

 neglected, boughs and branches 'crossing each other should be 

 cut away judiciously and daylight let in. Scars and deep 

 fissures on the trunk and stems where woolly aphides con- 

 gregate should be treated with freshly mixed lime wash having 

 a little powdered sulphur in it, worked well in with a 

 stiff brush. The thick soft soap and paraffin wash would be 

 more efficacious, but it is somewhat expensive. For the infested 

 branches, boughs, and twigs of large trees, spraying with the soft 

 soap and paraffin mixture should be adopted. 



In orchards where trees are in regular lines horse hop -washers 

 may be used. In old orchards, where the trees stand irregularly, 

 and in plantations with standards and bushes below, hand 

 washers or garden engines with powerful pumps and long lengths 

 of hose must be employed. 



Where apple trees are infested with woolly aphides on their 

 stems and branches, examination of their roots should also be 

 made for infestation thereon, which is indicated by swellings 

 upon the roots, and by the groups of woolly insects. The earth 

 should be removed from the base of the trunk and from a few 

 feet of the lateral roots. Lime wash with sulphur brushed well 

 in, or the thick paraffin wash, would be advantageous. Penning 

 pigs close round infested orchard trees, or watering the roots 

 with strong liquid manure, would make it unpleasant for the 

 subterranean invaders. Kainit hoed in round the roots has 

 been found efficacious in Canada. 



Before apple trees are planted their roots should be well 

 soused in a tub containing fresh lime wash and sulphur. 



In Australia there are varieties of apples said to be proof 

 against the action of the Woolly Aphis by reason of their 

 bark being hard and its tissues close, and so resisting the 

 action of the beaks of the insects. These are the Northern 

 Spy, an American apple, and the Majetin, a Norfolk (England) 

 variety, and apples in Australia are now always worked 

 upon these stocks. Mr. French, the Government Entomologist 

 of Victoria, says, " Before the advent of these excellent blight- 

 proof stocks, the Majetin and Northern Spy, it was exceedingly 

 difficult to find in most orchards an apple tree that was clean 

 or in perfect health. Now, with a little care and attention, 

 the fruit grower, as a rule, may snap his fingers at the American 

 Blight." 



