434 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Hay J8, 189’. 
Mr. Mcasters said he stated that some of the trees were scorched. 
Mr. Doeg said the term nicotine was very vague. It should be 
further described. 
Grease-banding, its Value and Disadvantages. 
Mr. Hooper said his plantation looked very healthy indeed, and as if 
it would not require any spraying machines to be used. He kept part of 
his plantation ungreassd as a test. He found that there were as few 
grubs upon that part not grease-banded—and in fact less—as there 
were upon other parts w'here grease-banding had been generally adopted. 
He looked forward to the time when spraying would be most efficient 
in protecting them from any insect blights. Other members of the 
Committee might have tried the remits of not grease-banding some 
portion of their plantations. 
Mr. Swifc thought the fact of Mr. Hooper not having any cater¬ 
pillars on the parts where he did not band might possibly be attributed 
to the extraordinarily hard winter. They saw very few butterflies 
about—he did not think he had seen twenty this season. If the hard 
weather had destroyed them possibly it destroyed the caterpil’ars which 
infested their trees. 
Mr. Hooper said they should aim at something which would be a 
complete remedy. Grease-banding was only a partial remedy. It 
involved a great deal of labour, and he found that it was injurious. 
Trees which he had had grease-banded did not look well at all. 
Mr. Swift thought his experience as to the injurious effects of grease¬ 
banding was simply on young trees. On the old trees it had no effect 
whatever, and if when the time had gone by they scraped the young 
trees it did not hurt them. 
Mr. Hiam pointed out that the Committee had adopted the system of 
putting bands of paper on the trees to prevent injury to the bark. That 
also kept the matter adhesive, and prevented its absorption into the bark. 
He had some specimens which showed hundreds of the moths caught on 
those bands of paper. 
The Chairman said he had grease-banded his trees for many years, 
and found no injurious effects, but they were old trees. If any injury 
was done he thought it was to young trees. 
Mr. Hiam said the hard weather had had no effect whatever on the 
eggs. He had watched the eggs hatch out particularly on trees. 
Mr. Masters was of opinion that it was not so much in the egg stage 
as when developing from the egg to caterpillar life that some kind of 
weather would be fatal to the caterpillar. 1886 was a very remarkable 
season. In the autumn of 1885 there was a large number of moths, but 
in the spring of 1886 there was a very extraordinary continuance of 
frost through March and the early part of April very similar in many 
respects to the season they had this year, and the result was a remark¬ 
able immunity from caterpillar. Consequently there was a good crop of 
fruit in 1886. 
Mr. Doeg thought that would be owing to the very late frosts killing 
the young caterpillars as they hatched. They had pretty good proof 
that no amount of frost killed them when in the egg state. 
An Interesting Discovery. 
The Chairman said Mr. Wise had shown them some specimens of the 
gall growth upon the Black Currants, and he had been in correspon¬ 
dence with Miss Ormerod upon the subject. Early in the spring he 
found that the gall buds were full of the mite called the Phytopti, and 
with them he also found a white grub about an eighth of an inch long 
He forwarded a specimen to Miss Ormerod, and th's seemed to be a 
great discovery. Miss Ormerod replied to his letter in a letter dated 
April 21st. She said she was glad to have the opportunity of examining 
the co-tenant of the swelled Black Currant buds which Mr. Gibbon’s 
nicely arranged specimens afforded her. She had carefully examined it 
after soaking it for a little while in glycerine and water, so as to render 
it transparent, and could say now with certainty that it was the maggot 
of a two-winged fly, or to write more technically the larva of some 
species of Diptera, and she thought it likely that this observation might 
prove very interesting. It was totally impossible to give the specific 
name of a fly maggot unobserved before, but Mr. Gibbon’s observations 
and some other points made her think that it was very likely carnivorous, 
and that it fed on the little gall mites or Phytopti. Mr. Gibbon 
mentioned that he sent the grub (with the Phytopti all about it) care¬ 
fully encased within two pieces of glass, and thus it reached her safely. 
She examined it with a 2-inch and 1-inch object glass before opening 
the packet (that was the two slides which Mr. Gibbon had so carefully 
secured that she had a little difficulty in cutting them apart), but she 
saw no Phytopti. Then after soaking the fly maggot in glycerine and 
water, without removing it from the glass, she examined it again with a 
1-inch power glass, and still found no Phytopti, but was very much 
struck with the condition of the fly maggot, which was quite swelled out 
with food, not with juice but with solid matter, which she removed on 
to the slide. She conjectured that the maggot was of a carnivorous 
kind, and had eaten the Phytopti, its fellow passengers, as food on the 
journey. If so they had a friend in the co-tenant of the buds. She 
could not as yet say that it was so, but she thought all the circum¬ 
stances pointed to this being likely, and scientifically there was no 
reason against it, but quite the reverse. It would be an interesting 
point for Mr. Gibbon to follow up, and if they could rear the fly they 
could get it identified and add a useful practical observation. In reply 
to a letter from Mr. Gibbon Miss Ormerod wrote on April 25th again 
expressing the opinion that there was strong reason for supposing where 
the Phytopti were gone. That was extremely satisfactory, as she 
thought they might hope they had a parasite which would help to keep 
the Phytopti in check. If Mr. Gibbon could manage to rear the fly sho 
would tiy to get it trustworthily identified. 
Mr. Wise said if the grub ate up the Phytopti they would breed them 
there if they had to set up a hatching establishment. 
Mr. Hiam said as regarded his investigations he had been unable to- 
find this particular maggot or grub anywhere except in Mr. Gibbon’s- 
trees. 
The Chairman said he was very thankful he had got it. 
Mr. Doeg thought Miss Ormerod was very likely correct. A large 
number of Diptera were carnivorous. He had sant some of the galls to 
Mr. Enoch, who was the greatest authority on Diptera, and he would, 
breed them. 
The Chairman said he had all the galls picked off the Currant trees, 
and hundreds of Phytopti were found inside. In reply to Mr. Wise he 
safll he did not syringe after the buds were broken off. 
Mr. Wise said they had all the buds picked, and in some cases they 
went over them twice. They had not taken any notice of them^ for 
some time, but this year they increased so much that they were obliged 
to do so. 
The Red Spider. 
Mr. Swift referred to the Stott machine, which he said sent a spray 
to the top of the tallest Plum trees. With respect to Paris green and 
the red spider Mr. Pritchard dressed the Gooseberry bushes with Paris 
green at 1 lb. in ninety gallons, just before the buds came out, and it 
entirely destroyed the red spider, and the bushes were now looking 
remarkably well. Since then he had dressed others when the leaf was 
out an i it did not kill the red spider nearly so well as before, and a lot 
of leaves drooped, though the solution was then only 1 lb. to 120 gallons. 
It was evident to him that the red spider could be destroyed if the 
bushes were dressed at the proper time. 
The Chairman said he had been spraying his Gooseberry bushes. He 
observed the saw fly on the Gooseberry bushes, and they sprayed them 
with Par's green, and they could not see any left now. They used 
1 oz. of Paris green paste to 12 gallons of water. His trees were 
looking beautifully healthy. He believed thoje insecticides were sure 
death to the saw fly. 
Mr. Hooper said he had not seen or heard of any spraying going on 
round his district, and the trees looked remarkably well, and gave a 
very fine promise. . 
The Chairman said he had been spraying eight rows of trees with 
Paris green, eight rows with London purple, and he left eight rows 
untouched, as a test. 
Mr. Hiam said at the last meeting he was not sure as to the eggs of 
the Plum aphis. They had hatched since, and they were the proper 
Plum aphis. They were eggs laid in the autumn, which he watched 
through the winter, and they hatched out in the spring. 
Pests at Toddington. 
Mr. Wise reported as to the plantation at Toddington. The com¬ 
parison of th's year with last year was very favourable. They could find 
hardly any trace of the green fly and very few caterpillars, except in 
the nursery on the young trees which were not grease-banded, but 
nearly all of which were well dressed with Paris green. On the planta¬ 
tion trees they cou d find very little trace of the caterpillar. Some 
trees dressed with the strong mixtures used by Mr. Bullock were killed- 
He referred to the grub which had appeared among the Red Currant 
bushes, and which was stated in last week’s Eceshani Standard to be 
the larva of the Incurvaria capitella. He said the shoots of the trees 
were withered up ; the leaves withered and drooped, and if picked off 
they found the small grub inside the shoots. Both Miss Ormerod and 
Mr. Doeg were of opinion that it was the caterpil ar of the Incurvaria 
capitella. It was a question whether they could do anything to catch ther 
moth which hatched at the end of May. They had also found what 
they believed to be a weevil, but which, however, was contrary to the 
belief of Miss Ormerod and Mr. Doeg. Amongst the Raspberries they 
had the red maggot, which he reported upon last year, and it was doing- 
a good deal of damage. They picked them off last year, but they were 
decidedly more numerous this year, and he should say it would affect 
their crop. 
Mr. T. E. Doeg said he had no doubt about the grub in the Currant 
bushes being the larva of the Incurvaria capitella. It appeared to be a 
day-flying moth, and in all probability it was double-brooded, and they 
would have another brood towards the autumn, feeding in the stems. 
He thought they were adopting the most effectual plan in plucking off 
the shoots. 
Mr. Wise said on their Black Currants they had found the same pest 
that Mr. Gibbon had given a description of, and they were following his 
example and picking off the buds. They found very little of the luper 
caterpillar, and that he attributed to the use of Paris green last year. 
They got the Paris green on the trees by the French pump in the most 
approved way, and they certainly found very few. They would, how- 
eve’’, most decidedly grease-band their trees again in the autumn. They 
would not wash again, as it was not necessary this year. He referred to- 
a visit to some plantations in Herefordshire, where he was told by no 
means to give up grease-banding. He had a recipe given him for 
syringing Pears and Plums. It must be used before growth commenced, 
or it would scorch the foliage. It was half a pound of caustic soda^ 
half a pound of crude commercial potash, and five gallons of hot water. 
For Apricots and Peaches eight gallons of water should be used. He- 
was told that that would kill the green fly or anything living. 
