140 
Willow. 
mischief. Thus there are three definite attacks—that of the great 
mass of the summer or autumn beetles, which appear when the Willow 
growth is well advanced; another of these beetles, which come out 
again to forage on the new growths of Willow, after their own winter 
sleep ; and the ravages of the grubs in the summer. 
Prevention and Remedies. — The preventive measures, as is 
obvious, lie in removing, so far as can be done, all winter shelters 
where the beetles could resort to for protection. This must make 
some difference ; and also abstaining from making large collections of 
rubbish, as of Willow peelings, &c., and leaving them to decay, or using 
them (as I have seen done in the case of the peelings) to form a kind of 
rough thatch to sheds, must certainly prevent the attack being as bad 
as it would otherwise have been. But these measures have proved, as 
we know, very insufficient. 
We are in the same position here regarding plant growth that we 
are in regarding orchard growth in fruit farming. We have large 
areas—a good many acres, that is to say—of plant crop growing on, 
year after year, on the same ground. Direct remedy—something to 
be applied to get rid of the infestation (if it be possible) when it 
appears—is what we want. 
In a very bad attack, in 1884, to Willow beds at Lymm, Warrington, 
and other places on the border of Lancashire and Cheshire, regarding 
which I had much correspondence, Mr. Cameron, writing from Lymm 
on the 29th of May, reported as follows:—“The remedies hitherto 
tried (but so far with little success) are dusting the young shoots with 
hellebore powder, soot, sulphur, lime, and spent gas-lime. The plan 
now adopted is to Jia7id-pick, or rather shake off, the insects into small 
vessels containing a small quantity of paraffin oil. This plan has been 
steadily carried on by many of the Willow growers during the last 
fortnight with marked success; but unfortunately a few people take 
little or no notice, and I fear these neglected lots will pollute the 
surroundings.” 
In the past season of 1890, Messrs. Ellmore, writing to me on the 
29th of May, further confirmed the above report by mentioning as 
follows:—“We have frequently been in communication with an old 
friend of ours, Mr. Hutchinson, of Warrington, who is an important 
Willow worker and grower.” He said that “his experience led 
him to think the best remedy was in picking them off by hand, and 
placing in tins containing a small quantity of paraffin. That is the 
course we have pursued, and fifteen men have been employed doing 
this, and have caught endless quantities. In fact, we have caught as 
many beetles as would fill a fair-sized bucket.” 
In the experiments undertaken at my suggestion in 1884, we found 
