APPLE WEEVIL. 
81 
found a colony ; the white cotton soon appears in large 
hunches ; branch after branch becomes infected ; the tree 
grows cankery, pines, and dies. How this is effected no 
one knows, though the plague and its doings are too evi- 
dent to escape the notice of the commonest clown. In 
large orchards it is in vain to hope for a cure, but not so 
in gardens. Directly you see the least morsel of cotton, 
make up your mind to a little trouble and you will get rid 
of it. In the first place, get a plasterer's whitewashing- 
brush, then get a large pot of double size, make your man 
heat it till it is quite liquid, then go with him into the gar- 
den and see that he paints over every patch of white, 
though not bigger than a sixpence ; the next morning have 
the size-pot heated again, and have another hunt; and 
keep on doing so every morning for a fortnight. Your 
man will tell you it's no use ; tell him that's your business, 
not his: your neighbours will laugh at you for your pains: 
do it before they are up. I have tried it and known it to 
be effectual. Spirit of tar has been used with partial effect, 
so also has resin ; whitewashing has been often tried, and, 
as it contains some size, is not entirely useless, and some 
horticulturists think it ornamental : I do not. 
The Apple Weevil is a second enemy to the cider or- 
chard. By carefully examining the bark of an apple-tree 
in the winter, you will occasionally find a pretty little 
beetle in the cracks, which, directly on being touched, 
shams dead, and drops on the ground, where you will not, 
without great difficulty, discover it, on account of the 
similarity of colour ; you must, therefore, hunt till you find 
another. This time, as soon as you see him, place one 
hand below him, then touch him lightly with a little bit of 
stick, and he will drop into your open hand; his own 
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