ART. XXII. Results of an Experiment to destroy the Aphis Lanigera, or American Blight on Fruit Trees. By Mr. JOHN ADAMS, Gardener at Apley Castle, Shropshire. Sir, HAVING read in Vol. I. p. 388. of the Gardener's Magazine of an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the ravages of the woolly Aphis, by T. C. Huddlestone, Esq., I send you the following account of an experiment I made on an apple tree which was much infested with the woolly aphis. This tree I had headed down and re-grafted last spring; in June I went to cut off the superfluous shoots, when I found the wounds and most of the young shoots covered with the insect, and instead of healing, the wounds were very cankery round the edges. I had tried tobacco water, and a liquor that will destroy the pine bug, without success. (A painter being at work here) I thought of trying spirits of turpentine, which I immediately applied with a small brush, (well rubbing it on where I could see any sign of the insect,) with complete success. I have frequently examined the tree since, and cannot perceive any insect, and the wounds are fast healing over. If you consider this account worth insertion in the Gardener's Magazine, it is much at your service. I am, Sir, &c. Apley Castle, near Wellington, Shropshire, JOHN ADAMS. ART. XXIII. On the Destruction of the Aphis Lanigera, or American Blight on Apple Trees. By A. W. Sir, IN Vol. I. p. 388. of your truly valuable Magazine, I observe a letter from T. C. Huddlestone, Esq., relative to an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Aphis lanigera, or American blight; and as I have formerly been very much troubled with the same insect, but am now, I flatter myself, quite master of it, I take the liberty to address a few lines to you upon the subject. In the year 1824, I planted upwards of fifty choice sorts of apple trees, and in the same autumn they were infested with the above-mentioned insect. I immediately set about cleaning them with what I then thought the most efficacious means; namely, lime-water and soft soap; but in the summer followVOL. II. No. 5. E ing, they were much worse than in the preceding season: some of the branches were quite covered with the insect. Therefore, finding the liquid that I had dressed them with of no avail whatever, unless I except the good done by continually brushing them, I applied strong old urine to all the trees, with a soft brush, and I can positively say, it has had the desired effect in every sense of the word; for the trees are now, and have been all this summer, as clean and healthy as I can wish them to be. If the urine is used in a fresh state, it will not answer so well as if it were two or three months old, and kept in a body of fifteen or twenty gallons. After brushing the trees, if I have any of the liquid to spare, I take a syringe and sprinkle the trees all over. By attending to the above method, there is very little difficulty in completely eradicating the destructive insect your correspondent complains of. A cheaper remedy it is almost impossible to find. On large old trees, where the bark is rough, of course the labour is much greater than on small or middling sized trees, but even then it need not be despaired of. If you think this worth a place in your Magazine, I shall feel proud in contributing my mite to so useful a work. I am, Sir, &c. Near Droitwich, Nov. 10th, 1826. A. W. Since the above was printed, we have received some other communications on the same subject: Mr. James Brown of York has used tobacco water; R. S. T. soot and salt in equal quantities; and Mr. James Gibson, Hampstead, the Chelsea apple powder, the principal ingredient in which appears to be soot, with perfect success. Cond. "A gentleman from Upper Canada, one of the most distinguished individuals in that province, told me this summer of a remedy, which he said proved in that country completely effectual-soft soap. I applied it the latter end of June to some trees of mine which had been dreadfully infested for a long time, and on which I had previously tried various remedies. I laid it on with a brush, hot, and of the consistency of paint. The outer bark is since come off, and a fine healthy under surface appears. I have not seen the least appearance of the American blight since, and the trees have been thus far perfectly healthy." A SUFFOLK Amateur. November 22. 1826. 51 PART II. REVIEWS. ART. L. Essay on the beneficial Direction of Rural Expenditure. By ROBERT SLANEY, Esq. (Continued from Vol. I. p. 186.) IN considering the condition and character of the agricultural population of Great Britain, our first position was, that at present they can command a smaller portion of the necessaries of life than their ancestors could. This position we grounded on numerous and indisputable facts; and we particularly referred to a table of wages and prices, from the middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 17th century, which we inserted. We ought now, agreeably to our plan, to proceed to our second position, but previously we may be allowed to illustrate our first position by another table, borrowed from Sir Frederic Eden's History of the Poor. We have dwelt thus long and particularly on this position, not merely in order to establish it firmly, but likewise, because by establishing it, we virtually refute a very prevalent but erroneous principle, which, so long as it is considered true, and consequently is acted upon, must be injurious to the amelioration of the condition of the poor. This principle is, that wages depend on the price of provisions: if it were true, let us see what consequences and inferences would follow: first, that though the present agricultural population might not be better off, they could not possibly be worse off than their ancestors; because, wages rising proportionally with the price of provisions, the present race must have the command of the same quantity as their ancestors had. But the second inference is still more important: if wages, and the price of provisions, or, more strictly speaking, of corn, rise and fall together, of what advantage to the poor would be a low price of corn, and, therefore, how are they interested in the question of the Corn Laws? Let us grant that the free importation of wheat would reduce its price from 60s. a quarter to 40s., what would this signify to the labourer, if, with this fall in the price of wheat, his wages fell in the same proportion, or from 12s. to 8s. a week? would he not, in fact, be worse off with wheat at 40s. and his wages at 8s., than he had been with wheat at 60s. and his wages at 12s.? For, though we allow that a reduction in the price of wheat might reduce in the same proportion, not only his wages, but many things he was in the habit of purchasing, yet there are some highly-taxed articles in this country, to which the labouring classes are accustomed, which could not fall in the same proportion as wheat and wages; and over them, therefore, he would possess a more limited command than he did before. Before we revert from this apparent digression (though it is in reality a statement essentially connected with this part of our paper), we may further be allowed to point out in what manner the opponents of the Corn Laws beat out the brains of their own arguments, by dashing them one against the other. "Allow the free importation of corn," they cry out, otherwise you cannot compete with foreigners in the market for manufactured goods." What does this imply? Certainly, that if the free importation of corn were allowed, its price would fall, consequently wages would fall, and your manufacturers would be able to sell their goods at a lower price! What else does it imply? Undoubtedly this, that the low rate of wages on the Continent is owing to the low price of corn there. Now, let us turn to the other grand argument of the opponents of the Corn Laws. The price of corn, by these laws, they contend, being artificially kept much higher than it would be if free importation were permitted, it follows that the labourer is able to purchase less corn than he would if foreign corn were admitted. But what does this imply? Certainly, that the wages of the labourer would remain the same after free importation were permitted, and consequent low prices took place. And what further does this imply? That wages do not depend on the price of corn. Allow the first argument to be good: cheap corn makes low wages; low wages enable the manufacturer to sell his goods cheaper; consequently the free importation of foreign corn would secure a market for our manufactures: but if this were the result - if wages fell proportionably to the fall in the price of corn-how could the condition of our labouring population be benefited by a repeal of the Corn Laws? Again; allow the second argument to be good: free importation would benefit the labouring population by giving them corn at a cheaper rate: but wheat at 40s. the quarter is not cheaper to a labourer at 8s. a week, than wheat at 60s. to a labourer at 12s. a week. The labourer, therefore, before he can be benefited by cheap corn, must not have his wages dependent on the price of corn: but if the labourer is really benefited by having the same wages when wheat is at 40s. as he had when it was at 60s., how can the manufacturer |