152 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 29. 
more worthily the richness of New South Wales, in woods. 
Inferior specimens had generally to he taken, because the 
labour requisite to get out the better was not to be procured; 
but it was considered advisable rather to secure examples 
from trees of under size, than to leave the species unrepre¬ 
sented. Even as it is, a great many which are known have 
not been obtained, and some which were procured have not 
been forwarded, or, at all events, have not reached their 
destination. In the Catalogue, the average full-sized dimen¬ 
sions of each species are stated; actual measurement, in 
almost every instance, having been the authority. The dried 
specimens of the fronds, which have been procured with the 
woods, have corresponding numbers attached to them; and, 
whether in a perfect state or not, as regards their fructifica¬ 
tion, they may be relied upon, as being, in each case, from 
the same species as the timber.— Sydney Morning Herald. 
THE AMERICAN BLIGHT. 
The following essay on the American blight in apple 
trees was addressed by Mr. Me Ewin, of Glen Ewin Nursery, 
to the Committee of the South Australian Agricultural 
and Horticultural Society, in answer to their advertisement 
offering a prize for the best essay on the subject :— 
“ Gentlemen—Seeing an advertisement offering a prize 
for the best practical essay on the subject of destroying and 
preventing the American blight in apple trees, I am induced 
to pen the following remarks, not from pecuniary motives, 
but from the ardent desire to render a service to my fellow- 
colonists, especially horticulturists. 
“ The Aphides, or plant lice, of which the American blight, 
{Aphis lanigera ) is a species, are universally, next to the 
locust, the greatest enemy to the cultivator. Their powers of 
production almost exceed belief, it having been computed by 
Reaumur that one aphis may produce 5,904,900,000 
descendants in five generations, and when it is calculated 
that there are at least 20 generations in 12 months, we may 
cease to wonder at the rapid and alarming spread of this 
devastator. 
“ This insect is most injurious to the apple tree, and in the 
larva or apterous state feed upon the juices of the tree, 
which they extract by means of their proboscis, with which 
they puncture the bark. These punctures cause excrescences, 
which become very unsightly; and unless its ravages are 
checked by the application of remedial measures for its 
extirpation, the tree soon dies. The species is essentially 
American in its origin, and made its appearance in a nursery 
in the neighbourhood of London, where it was brought on 
some plants of a new sort of apple from New York, and 
thence it has spread to every country where the apple is 
cultivated. It was brought to this colony on trees imported 
from Van Diemen’s Land, and its rapid spread here may in 
a great measure be ascribed to ignorant and unprincipled 
vendors, who dispose of the infected trees to unsuspecting 
purchasers who are at tire time, perhaps, ignorant of the 
nature of the terrible scourge. These young trees are 
planted, probably in the neighbourhood of gardens perfectly 
free from the devastator, and the inevitable result is its 
spreading over these by various means. 
“ 1. It may be brought on the feet of birds, which might 
fly from off a diseased tree with some of the insects adhering 
to their claws ; these alighting on clean trees in any neigh¬ 
bouring garden would be almost certain to divest themselves 
of some of them. 
“ 2. Streams of water may carry down the insect adhering 
to the leaves, of which the trees are denuded in the winter 
season, and may be deposited in an orchard lower down the 
stream, and thence might easily gain the trees. 
“ 3. High winds will carry the insects a long way, as they 
have the faculty of throwing out a substance like gossamer, 
by means of which they are floated by the wind, and wafted, 
it may be, to an apple-tree, if it unfortunately happen to be 
in their course. 
“ 4. The male insects are furnished with wings in February 
and March, by means of which they can fly short distances, 
and by that means the female might be carried to a 
neighbouring garden. 
“ 5. Persons may, by rubbing against the leaves of 
diseased trees, cause some of the insects to adhere to their 
clothes, and by that means unsuspectingly communicate the 
blight to clean trees. 
“ And, lastly, animals, such as dogs, cats, Ac., may in like 
manner spread the infection. 
“ In whatever light, therefore, we view the evil, it presents 
itself as one of great magnitude ; and in order successfully 
to grapple with it, we must have recourse to stringent pre¬ 
ventive measures, or, if we fail to do so, we may despair of 
ever seeing fine old apple-trees in this colony, such as we 
have been accustomed to look on with pride in England. 
“ It has often struck me forcibly that a legislative enact¬ 
ment for the prevention of the spread of the American 
Blight in apple-trees, similar to the Act for the prevention of 
Scab in Sheep, would be the means of doing much good, 
and, as a suggestion, I would strongly urge it upon the 
attention of your Committee as worthy of consideration. I 
would put a case in this way :—Am I, who may have spent 
a large capital in forming and planting a garden, and who 
may have waited patiently on the harvest of fruit, to be at 
the mercy of a neighbour who may have, perhaps, only a 
single tree in his garden, and that a diseased one, which 
would certainly disseminate the infection to my trees ? Thus 
the inevitable consequences to me would be most disastrous, 
while, on the other hand, he would have nothing to lose. 
All men ought to be equal in the eyes of the law, but in this 
case we are not; for the sheep-farmer has his remedy against 
those who have diseased sheep, while I have none, but must 
submit quietly to be ruined, by the carelessness, or, it may 
be, maliciousness, of a neighbour. 
“ But to come to remedial measures within the reach of 
every cultivator, I would particularly notice that it may be 
subdued most effectually by using a stock which the insect 
will reject, and I trust that such will be employed by nursery¬ 
men ere long. I am aware of the existence of seedling 
trees, in three different gardens, not subject to the blight. 
In two of the gardens, the branches of the diseased trees 
(now dead) intermingled with them, and yet they are now 
perfectly clean. The other tree is in a garden, and grows by 
the side of a creek, and is surrounded by blighted trees, the 
roots of which were washed bare by a flood, and were found 
to be intertwined with the roots of the blighted trees, every 
one of which were thickly covered with the aphis, while its roots 
were entirely free from it. By employing a stock not subject 
to the blight, preventive operations may he successfully 
employed, as its ravages would then be confined to the parts 
above groimd, which would be within the range of possibility 
to clean ; but if the pest gets on the roots, which it will do 
on the ordinary stock, it will defy eradication*- the cultivator 
may employ all the remedies he can think of, he may even 
bare the roots and trace them as far as possible, it will soon 
reappear as bad as ever, in defiance of his utmost exertions. 
“ Infected trees, while young and out of the ground, may 
be radically cured by immersing them, root and branch, in 
strong tobacco-water and nux vomica, in the proportion of 
one pound of tobacco and one ounce of nux vomica to four 
gallons of water, the whole to bo well boiled. Previous to 
immersion, the trees should be washed in clean water, and 
any infected spots, which may then be easily seen, must be 
cut clean out with a sharp knife. The trees must remain in 
the liquor at least one hour, and, after taking them out, they 
may be rinsed in clean water. It would be very desirable 
before planting to dip the roots in a thick puddle, of the 
consistency of mortar, made up of three parts fresh loam 
and one part cow-dung, adding water sufficient to liquefy the 
mass. The plants must be narrowly watched during the 
growing season, and if the insect should make its appearance, 
the infected tree ought to be carefully taken up and burnt, 
and the spot on which it grew must be scalded with boiling 
water, or have some litter burnt over it. 
“ Trees planted out in orchard or garden ground ought to 
be frequently examined and kept free from suckers, as they 
are, in nine cases out of ten, the medium by which the blight 
gains the roots of large trees. 
“ If it should make its appearance, vigorous measures 
must be at once adopted to destroy as many insects as 
possible, by crushing them between the fingers, and cutting 
out the small infected branches, using the following mixture 
| for the main stem and branches:—Three ounces of soft 
| soap beaten up in a small quantity of water; add to this 
a quart of unslacked lime and four handfuls of sulphur; 
