NOTES AND ABSTRACTS; 



169 



yields as heavily in so short a time, and yet up to the present it 

 has been grown on a seedling basis, so that it has been impossible to 

 select strains and keep them pure. The species is dioecious as a rule, 

 so that half the seedlings may be males, and only 5 or 6 per cent, of 

 the remainder may produce fruit equal in quality to that from which 

 the seeds were obtained, and in practice the results are often much 

 worse than this. One of the writers of the paper has successfully 

 grafted the Papaya, and the method of doing it is here described. 

 A bearing tree in ordinary circumstances has no bud wood for grafting 

 purposes, but if such a tree is decapitated shoots begin to form, one 

 from the upper part of each leaf scar, and these, after three or four 

 weeks, may be used for grafting on young Papaya seedhngs raised 

 in a greenhouse from seed sown a month or six weeks previously. 

 A single March-budded plant will bear from two to three dozen fruits, 

 averaging two to three pounds each, during the following winter 

 and spring. It is suggested that certain close relatives of the Papaya 

 might be used as stocks or for breeding purposes, nothing apparently 

 having been done hitherto to hybridize the different species of Carica 

 or make use of them as stocks. — A .P. 



Parasites of Coccus hesperideum in California. By P. H. 



Timberlake {Jour. Econ. Entom. vi. p. 293 ; June 1913). — ^The soft scale 

 (Coccus hesperideum) of the orange was at one time a serious pest of 

 the orange groves of California. The combined attacks of parasitic 

 insects and fumigation have effectively held it in check. The present 

 communication gives an account of the life-histories of the chief 

 parasites of the scale. — F. J. C. 



Peach "Stop Back." By L. Haseman (Jour. Econ. Entom. vi. 

 pp. 237-240 ; April 1913). — ^The author found the " tarnished plant 

 bug " (Lygus pratensis Linn.) was answerable for the destruction of 

 buds of peaches and other plants. The insect (which is not infrequently 

 a destructive pest in EngHsh gardens) is a general feeder, and the 

 author recommends the destruction of weeds, trapping on crops sown 

 for the purpose, and capture on sticky boards as the best means of check- 

 ing the pest. Spraying is unlikely to be efficacious. — F. J. C. 



Peach Tree Aphides. By C. B. Hardenberg (Agr. Jour. Cape 

 G. H. vol. vi. No. 2, pp. 224-235 ; Aug. 1913). — ^This is a Report on 

 Investigations during late Winter and early Spring, 1912. Mention 

 is made of both black and green peach aphides. Generally three 

 sprays are given at intervals of four or five days, but owing to the 

 lateness of the spring rains four (sprays) were given in 1912. The 

 total cost of spraying is 2S, a tree ; in an ordinary year with three 

 sprays it would be 15. 6d. a tree. " Tobacco extract at a solution 

 containing about 0*082 per cent, nicotine is the most effective strength. 

 No advantage is gained by a stronger solution. This kills the aphis 

 within 24 hours." 



