Packard.] THE POPULATION OF AN APPLE TREE. 191 
saults of the myriad birds and insects which prey upon them, 
must be closed by accessions from the youth of the colony. 
How fertile the mothers are in means to supply this want, 
and with what startling precocity the new-born Aphis steps 
into the shoes of his sire, or more commonly his mother, we 
have already seen. Given a colony of, say, 1,000,000 plant 
lice on a choice tree, the problem before us, and it is one 
nature daily presents, is to reduce the 1,000,000 to 0. 
Before using the various artificial remedies, excellent when 
faithfully applied, the intelligent gardener will avail himself 
of the aid of the natural enemies of the Aphis, such as the 
maggot of the Syrphus fly, and the larva of the lace-winged 
fly. If he gather these and turn them loose among the 
flocks of Aphides his withered trees will soon become green 
and exuberant. 
Dr. Fitch says that the eggs are small, oval, shining, black, 
and placed by the parent in autumn deep in the cracks and 
crevices in the bark of the tree. Now, as he suggests, the 
practical way to deal with these pests is to scrape off the dead 
bark of the old trees and whitewash all the trees early in No¬ 
vember, or very early in the spring before the buds begin to 
open, for at this period the young Aphides hatch, as they may 
be found clustered round the buds, and as soon as the green 
leaves begin to show themselves the Aphides puncture them. 
This Aphis is a European importation. The head and tho¬ 
rax are black, the hind body green. Among the remedies 
which may be applied are washes of sal soda, strong soap 
suds, tobacco in solution or its smoke, though this latter 
means is difficult to apply to any except choice small trees. 
Not content with the destruction to root, trunk and leaf, a 
few insects devote their energies to 
INJURING THE FRUIT. 
The Coddling Moth.— M any a housekeeper looks with un¬ 
concern upon this little creature, quite ignorant of the mis- 
31 
