I have never failed
in destroying the pests by this course. It should be remembered,
however, that new eggs are often hatched out daily. You may kill
every worm to-day, yet find plenty on the morrow. Vigilance,
however, will soon so check the evil that your currants are safe;
and if every one would fight the pests, they would eventually be
almost exterminated. The trouble is that, while you do your duty,
your next-door neighbor may grow nothing on his bushes but
currant-worms. Thus the evil is continued, and even increased, in
spite of all that you can do; but by a little vigilance and the
use of hellebore you can always save YOUR currants. I have kept my
bushes green, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit when, at a short
distance, the patches of careless neighbors were rendered utterly
worthless. Our laws but half protect the birds, the best
insecticides, and there is no law to prevent a man from allowing
his acres to be the breeding-place of every pest prevailing.
There are three species of the currant-borer, and their presence
is indicated by yellow foliage and shrivelling fruit. The only
remedy is to cut out and burn the affected stems. These pests are
not often sufficiently numerous to do much harm.
I earnestly urge that virulent poisons like Paris green, London
purple, etc.
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