April  13,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AN'D  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
299 
painting  the  pest  out  of  existence.  Twenty-feet  stems  of  grand  old 
espalier  Apple  trees  such  as  are  rarely  seen  nowadays  were  almost  as 
if  encased  with  wool.  No  doubt  a  few  millions  of  the  horrid  insects 
were  slaughtered  by  the  mixtures,  too  nauseous  to  be  named,  but 
millions  more  burst  out  again,  and  nothing  approaching  annihilation 
was  observable  till  they  were  treated  with  spirits  of  tar — an  obsolete 
article  for  the  purpose  now. 
The  trees  were  on  the  Crab,  and  the  younger  warrior  may  be 
saying  to  himself,  “  Yes,  of  course,  if  on  the  Paradise  they  would 
have  been  almost  exempt  from  attack.”  But  let  our  able  critic  wait 
for  the  end — it  only  means  a  bridge  of  fifty-two  years — and  he  will 
learn  that  there  are  exceptions  to  his  comforting  dictum,  and  that 
“  all  ”  cultivators  do  not  accept  it  as  unimpeachable.  ; 
their  swarming  foes,  so  the  whole  were  burned  together  last  December, 
or  rather,  nil  the  trees  save  one ;  and,  mark  the  fact,  Mr.  Pearson,  this 
is  on  the  Crab  stock,  of  the  same  age  as  the  others  and  planted  at  the 
same  time.  This  tree  that  ought  to  have  been  the  worst,  according  to 
“  fifteen  years’  experience,”  was  never  attacked  so  severely  as  the 
others,  and  as  it  supports  a  fruiting  bush  of  Mistletoe,  its  life 
was  spared.  It  was  not  the  Northern  Spy,  to  which  the  pen  is 
travelliiig. 
But  before  referring  to  that  “blight  proof”  variety  let  no  one 
draw  the  inference  from  what  has  been  said  that  we  regard  trees  on 
the  Paradise  as  more  prone  to  infestation  by  the  aphis  in  question  than 
those  on  Crab  stocks.  We  do  not  suggest  anything  of  the  kind.  We 
simply  consider  the  comparative  immunity  of  the  “  Mistletoe  tree  ”  is. 
Fig.  7J.— HARDENBERGIA  COMPTONIANA. 
Some  years  ago  we  planted  a  number  of  cordon  Apples  to  cover  a 
fence,  one  each  of  several  dessert  varieties,  for  ascertaining  those  most 
suitable  for  London  suburban  gardens.  They  were  on  the  Paradise 
stock — at  least  all  but  one  (on  the  Crab) — and  included  Duchess  of 
Oldenburg — the  alleged  “  woolly  aphis  proof  ”  variety. 
The  trees  were  apparently  clean  when  planted,  and  for  a  year  or 
two  afterwards.  Then  came  the  enemy.  It  was  swept  off  time  after 
time  with  either  petroleum  (in  winter  only),  a  strong  solution  of 
Gishurst,  or  methylated  spirit,  these  destroying  the  pest  in  summer 
without  injuring  the  trees.  But  it  came  again.  After  another  similar 
battle,  victory,  and  re-invasion,  and  observing  no  Apple  trees  in 
adjacent  gardens,  it  was  resolved  to  let  the  enemy  choose  its  varieties 
and  “  do  its  worst.” 
It  had  a  happy  time  for  three  years,  but  after  killing  the  Margil 
and  Cox’s,  and  nearly  finishing  all  the  rest,  including  tlie  “  bligbt- 
jiroof  ”  Duchess  cl  Oldenburg  (which  was  as  white  as  a  miller)  it 
was  thought  the  time  had  come  to  end  the  war  between  the  trees  and 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  standard,  with  its  head  above  the  fence  and 
exposed  to  all  the  winds  that  blow,  while  those  on  the  Paradise  that 
were  “eaten  up”  by  the  enemy  were  secured  to  the  fence  and  com¬ 
pletely  sheltered  from  the  east  and  to  a  large  extent  from  the  north, 
fi'his  is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  difference,  for,  though  aphis 
lanigera  is  not  killed  even  by  severe  frost  in  winter,  it  rejoices  in^ 
warmth  in  summer,  and  the  hotter  and  drier  the  positions  the  greater 
is  its  rate  of  increase. 
Whatever  may  be  the  case  in  open  nurserie.'^,  and  we  readily  con¬ 
cede  that  Mr.  Pearson  has  watched  the  trees  and  their  enemies  there 
more  closely  than  we  have,  as  to  those  on  the  Paradise  being  more 
resistent  of  aphides  of  different  forms  than  those  on  the  Crab  or  on 
the  free  stock  (which  are  not  quite  the  same)  we  know,  and  have 
known  for  more  than  twice  fifteen  years,  that  it  grown  in  an  enclosed 
garden  or  sheltered  orchard  where  the  pest  is  established,  trees  on 
both  stocks  are  liable  to  be  infested,  though  not  all  varieties  are- 
attacked  with  equal  persistency. 
