8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r July 8 18f4, 
twigs, besmearing these with their secretions. Not only are 
the twigs thus disfigured and the fruit (if any) injured, but the 
sticky substance draws ants, flies, and wasps. 
During 1880 Miss Ormerod received reports from numerous 
and scattered localities about the harm done by this species to 
Pears, those on walls suffering most, but also standards and 
espaliers to an extent, and she states that one treatment 
frequently adopted successfully was to begin by syringing the 
trees with solution of softsoap, following it up by the application 
of Gishurst compound combined with tobacco water. Doubtless 
any of the customary I’emedies for aphis or tiy would be service¬ 
able in the case of the chermes, and the fact that wall trees are 
specially infested points to the conclusion that the insects are 
likely to abound where they can get plenty of sbelter in winter. 
All possible hiding holes should therefore be explored, and the 
bark of standards kept free of lichens, &c. We have, in speaking 
of the Cherry insects, fully described the slug worm, which 
disfigures and damages that fruit tree, and the Pear has a 
kindred but not precisely the same species; for there is this 
marked difference in habit, that the Pear slug does not change 
on the tree, it descends to the earth, where the cocoons lie at the 
depth of 2 or 3 inches. Hence the advantage of skimming off 
the surface soil round trees soon after the time when this slimy 
bottle-green larva has disappeared from the leaves, which is 
generally in September. The Pear slug has been called Selandria 
(or Tenthredo) adumbrata, and in America two broods in a year 
have been noticed—we have but one fortunately. Solution of 
softsoap destroys them ; so, too, does tobacco water or the decoc¬ 
tion of hellebore, and dredging lime upon the leaves has been 
recommended, but it needs repetition. 
The abundant and justly dreaded weevil of the Apple (Antho- 
nomus pomorum) attacks occasionally the Pear bloom, preferring 
the dwarf trees, so ’tis said, but the Pear has a weevil of its own, 
although I do not find it is now as injurious here as it is abroad. 
Fig. 2.—The Pear Chermes (Psylla pyri). 
In its size and appearance A. Pyri bears close similarity to the 
foe of the Apple. The species does not, however, confine itself to 
the blossoms, since it is also common in the leaf buds. The 
weevils, having wintered under shelter, when they emerge will 
deposit eggs upon any buds they may reach. On opening an 
infected bud we perceive a tiny, whitish, and wrinkled grub with 
a brown head, and very soon the buds become brown too and 
dropoff. The little beetle is greyish or brownish, having two 
black spots and a white band. Kollar suggests that this insect, 
unless too plentiful, may be regarded as, in average seasons, 
rather beneficial than hurtful, since it reduces the quantity of 
the fruit, which is apt, if in excess, to be dwai-fed or impoverished. 
This hopeful view does not seem to be shared by gardeners, and 
it is usual, where the wmevil is noticed, to take measures for its 
extirpation. To prevent the weevils laying eggs, as they hide in 
or near the earth before they climb the trees, some spread over 
the trunks a band of tar mixed with oil to entangle them, or they 
may be shaken off the branches into sheets beneath when they 
have ascended. Phyllobius oblongus, less than the preceding, 
about a sixth of an inch long, and I’eddish brown, is a weevil 
which visits fruit trees in May, the Pear amongst others, but 
seldom in any quantity. The beetles make minute holes in the 
leaves ; the grub or larva is not taken upon trees, its habit is to 
feed upon the roots of herbaceous plants. 
Complaints were made to this Journal in 1883 with regard to 
the saw fly of the Pear (Lyda hoemorrhoidalis), which was found 
to be infesting trees against walls, and it is also partial to dwarfs; 
but few insects should be more easily disposed of upon detection, 
for the grubs or caterpillars lie under a web spun in company, 
and before they can emerge the quick eye of the gardener might 
often discover upon the under side of a leaf the patch of eggs 
laid by the parent, generally fifty at least, in May or June, 
according to the weather. The fly has four glassy wings and a 
black and yellow body, feet yellow, head black. Its long antennm 
are vibrated rapidly as it moves in the usual manner of saw flies. 
When adult the grub is almost an inch long, dark grey and 
transparent, vuth a black head and numerous^feet. It quits the 
tree to bury itself in the ground for the | winter, hence the 
advisableness of taking up the surface soil around Pear trees 
after the leaves have fallen (where this insect has been noticed) 
and specially along walls ; this should be effectually charred^ 
A parasite fly pierces many of these grubs and kills them. 
Several tiny two-winged flies of the genus Sciara infest various 
fruits, that of the Pear amongst them; and one species from its 
habits has received the name of the Pear midge, S. Pyri, the 
maggot of which, when it is left undisturbed, burrows into the 
heart of the fruit, which is not, however, always checked in its 
growth, though it generally falls off during May or June. In 
any case the Pears are rendered uneatable by the presence of 
the maggots, for one fruit may contain from three to ten. This 
fly has black wings and a lead-coloured body, the maggot is 
whitish and without legs. It is in the summer that the species 
attains the winged state, and the flies must live through the 
winter, since they are busy iipon the Pear buds before the blossoms 
have opened, laying eggs which produce the maggots. From its 
minute size it is seldom noticed by the gardener, and its worst 
foe, says Kollar, is a cold spring, which kills the young maggots,, 
and thus diminishes our enemies for the next season. Another 
midge, called the black gall midge (Cecidomyia nigra), belonging- 
to a gall-making family, but not itself a gall-producer, which is 
less common, pursues a similar plan, piercing the calyx in April 
with its long ovipositor, and leaving a variable number of eggs,, 
the maggots living on the fruit.— Entomologist. 
GRAPE-THINNING. 
After carefully perusing “ T. A. B.’s ” paper on page 493, I yet fail 
to see that he has given the slightest proof of his assertion that the 
berries being allowed to touch each other during the stoning period is a 
certain way to produce scald; but, on the contrary, he seems rather 
inclined to adopt my view of the matter, as will be seen by the following 
quotations. In his first paper he says, “ Moreover, allowing the berries to- 
touch each other during the stbning period is a certain way of producing 
scald.” In his second he says, “ I am aware that allowing the berries tu 
touch each other is not the sole cause of scalding, but unless the ventila¬ 
tion is very carefully attended to, it may be one cause.” He here brings 
in his deficient ventilation. Surely “ T. A. B.” would not expect all the 
beginners, to whom the hints were given, to be similarly situated ; if so 
some allowance should have been made for this. It might have been as 
well if he had not brought his heating and ventilating apparatus into 
the controversy at all. Supposing his ventilators to be so badly arranged 
that he cannot leave them slightly open at night, does he mean by this 
that scalding takes place during the night ? May I ask “ T. A. B.” how 
he manages to prevent the berries touching each other ©n the lower part 
of the bunch ? If he keeps all the berries from touching one another, he 
will require a lot of ties, besides the split laths he recommends. He tells 
us his bunches are greatest in diameter across the shoulders ; the tying 
process will increase the diameter when they are on the Vines, but not on 
the dessert plate. “ T. A. B.” must admit that it is on the dining-room 
table where the appearance is wanted. An employer seeing a bunch 
tied out in the vinery would be a little disappointed with the same 
bunch when placed on the table. 
“ T. A. B.” considers the twisted matting better than a stick with 
V-shaped ends for moving the bunch as required, but gives no proof of 
its superiority, neither does he inform us how he moves the bunch after 
it has been tied, but passes on and tells us he has seen at a show the 
shoulders held in position by means of a small pad of cotton wool placed 
under them. If a gardener cannot grow Grapes to lie on a fruit dish or 
a show stand without being propped up with cotton wool, I am afraid 
he will not be congratulated upon the appearance of his Grapes at the 
table, nor yet be burdened with honours at an exhibition. By consulting- 
the prize schedule of a leading society I notice all Grapes are to be 
shown on an inclined stand neatly covered with white paper. Would 
a pad of wool not be an infringement of the rules here ? Could a judge 
be said to do his duty if he awarded a first prize to a bunch of Grapes 
that had to be held in position by means of cotton wool, when by its side 
there lay another bunch held in faultless position by its own berries, 
the bunches being equal in all other respects ?—J. J. 
ROSE ALFRED K. WILLIAMS. 
I HAVE given this Rose his full name because, unless I am asleep or 
daft, A. K. Williams is not, as your Irish correspondent, “ W. J. Murphy. 
Clonmel," would seem to suppose, an “ empress among Rose queens,” 
but I presume an emperor, for certainly, unless, as I have said, I am 
asleep, Alfred was the original ending of the initial A. I mention this, 
because talking with an old friend of mine, he too spoke of Mdlle. A. K. 
Williams. Now I am most willing to give up everything of beauty that 
I possibly can, as an attribute or mark of the fair sex, for " Y. B. A. Z.” 
is one of their most devoted admirers; but if we begin to call Alfreds 
empresses, I am afraid we shall get rather “ mixed.” When we write or 
speak of the Rose generally as a flower, we generally put her down as the 
feminine gender, and call her very rightly the ” Queen of Flowers ; ” but 
if speaking of a Rose called, for instance. Lord Raglan, or General Jac¬ 
queminot, we can hardly say G4n6ral jacqueminot is an “empress” 
