GALL MITE. 
79 
years, the Black Currants have suffered severely from this pest, the 
entire stock of trees in some cases having been completely ruined, and 
fresh stocks which have been put in, though brought from a distance, 
have shared the same fate.” ... In this case, as in that above 
reported from Clydesdale, it appears that the mites have taken such 
complete possession as to make land useless for Black Currant 
growing without something being done. The branches sent showed 
very bad attack of the Phytopti. As many as seven diseased leaf- 
knobs, from a quarter to three-eighths of an inch across, were on one of 
the Black Currant shoots, which were only about three inches long. 
Other shoots had seven or eight of the swelled leaf-buds on them, and 
with them were sent specimens of Hazel, also badly attacked by 
Phytopti , which could be plainly seen with a one-inch object-glass. 
The following note, sent me on the 24tli of December, by Messrs. 
Dicksons and Co., 1, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, also shows strongly 
the great difficulty of getting this mite out when once it is established. 
Messrs. Dicksons enquired whether I could suggest “ any cure for the 
‘ mite,’ as it is called, which attacks Black Currants in some parts of 
the country. A grower in Lanarkshire informs us that the buds 
become abnormally enlarged, and the pest, whatever it is, has so 
thoroughly spread over the district in the Clydesdale orchards that it 
is considered hopeless to attempt to grow Black Currants at all there. 
Our correspondent thinks it must be in the ground, as he has got 
plants successively from England, Scotland, and Ireland with similar 
results, and they all become affected in the same way as those which 
had been taken out. Once, when he removed the old soil and replaced 
it with fresh material, the pest did not attack the bushes till the third 
year after they were planted, but then those bushes were bad as any 
that had been there before ; apparently, cutting off the affected 
branches would not do any good, as young shoots coming up from the 
ground are badly infested the first year. The affected bushes produce 
no fruit. Could anything be applied to the soil to destroy the pest ?” 
I am not aware that the general habits of the Black Currant Mite 
have been observed, but in the case of Phytoptus attack to other 
plants I have found them straying about on the leaves, and in the case 
of Birch Phytoptus I have found the mites active enough to lay eggs 
in winter; therefore it seems likely that the surface soil where many 
Black Currants are grown may easily get infested by the leaves and 
many of the mites falling to the ground together in autumn ; and as 
they are still active they can creep about at pleasure, and more 
particularly lodge themselves together with leaves and rubbish that 
collect amongst the lowest part of the branches at ground-level. It 
would appear likely that skimming off just the top surface with the 
old leaves, as soon as they have fallen in autumn, would do a deal 
