English Orchards. 



147 



to kill caterpillars and other leaf-and-blossom biting insects 

 on the trees. The quantity used is about i lb, of the poison 

 with 190 to 225 gallons of water. 



Systematic spraying would destroy numbers of apple 

 aphides [Aphis malt) and the Psylla mali^ the apple sucker,, 

 which has shown in late years a great tendency to increase,, 

 and has been very troublesome in many orchards. The 

 apple-blossom weevil [Anthononnis poinorinii), a perfect pest 

 in some localities, would also be kept in check by 

 regular sprayings, which serve to make its surroundings 

 unpleasant or impregnate its food with disagreeable 

 qualities. The ravages of this insect, which is fearfully 

 destructive in French orchards, are hardly realised in 

 this country, as it is so small, and the larva which causes 

 the harm is concealed in the heart of the bud. The ragged 

 coverings of bark which are never scraped away, and the 

 dense growth of lichens and mosses allowed to remain from 

 generation to generation, afford winter shelter for this 

 weevil, which emerges in the spring and places eggs in the 

 nearest flower-buds. 



The regular removal of superfluous bark, and daubing the 

 trunks with lime and sulphur wash with which some paraffin 

 is mixed, w^ould spoil the winter resorts of many injurious 

 insects, notably those of the caterpillars of perhaps the 

 most annoying of the apple-infesting tribe, the Codlin 

 moth [Carpocapsa ponionella)^ which has likewise increased 

 in a most marked degree in English orchards, in some 

 seasons large percentages of the apples are bored by 

 these caterpillars, and the appearance and flavour of 

 the fruit greatly injured. As these caterpillars fall from,, 

 or crawl out of, the infested apples and ascend the trees, 

 nearest them in the summer, they, like the winter moths,, 

 must be prevented from mounting apple trees, so that it would 

 be expedient to have proper permanent guards fixed round 

 the trunks. In America, Canada, and Tasmania old manure 

 or oil-cake bags, or hay bands, are regularly fastened 

 tightly round apple trees to stop the caterpillars from 

 wriggling up, and they are examined from time to time and 

 the caterpillars dislodged and killed. 



K 2 



