ORCHARDS.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 33, 7 August 1897, Page 2

ORCHARDS.

(to the editor.) Sin,— The following brief notice may be of service to your readers :— i Scale on apple, pear, and plum. — It would take up tar too much space to given even a list of the various chemicals and mixtures that have been used to get rid of this pest. There are several concentrated aoids tbat will kill scale, bat will also injure the tree There is but one remedy, that I know of, which will certainly destroy the pest without injuring the bark of tbe tree, and that is Wilks's Blight Specific. This preparation consists of about twenty different acids, alkalies, and hydrocarbons, combined in such a way as to be quite harmless to bnman beings who may use it. The scale (shell) is of such a nature that I know of no substance that will destroy its tissues without seriously damaging tbe tree ; but Wilks's Blight Specific, when properly applied, attacks the edge of the scale where it is united to tbe tree, and immediately loosens and separates the scale (shell) from the bark of the tree and devitalises the outer rim of eggs ; then, when this work is done by one set of the constituents, another set of constituents begin to disintegrate the rest of tbe eggs and the shell, and in this they are aided by damp, fog, or rain. It may take months before the " remains " are washed off by tbe rains or blown off by the wind, but it must be clearly understood these " remains " contain no life and can do no further harm to tbe tree. Woolly Aphis or American Blight. — This pest is very easy to kill, but hard to eradicate. Wilks's Blight Specific not only kills the fully -developed inseots, but also the eggs—almost instantaneously. But it must be borne in mind tbat though all tbe aphides may bo killed on tbe tree, those in the ground soon fly up on to the branches and will in a short time make the tree look as bad as ever. It follows, therefore, tbat not only must tbe aphides be killed on the tree, but also in the ground, One aphis will, in about five or six generations, produce about 5,000,000 of progeny. Almost anything will kill fully developed woolly ajihi.s — e.g., soap suds, dirty ditch water, — but not the eggs ; and in order to get rid of this pest the eggs mast, of course, be destroyed. Wilks's Blight Specific contains traces of magnesia, sulphuric acid, &c, in such combinations that it is perfectly safe to handle and use ; and, moreover, in addition to these substances, which act as medicine and stimulants to tbe trees to which this specific is applied, this preparation contains other substances that act as food for tbe trees. I am, Ac., George Wilks.