Evening star., 1937-06-05
BATTLE ON APH|DS
AGAIN IS RENEWED
Tree Expert Tells How to
Combat Biological
Freak.

The battle against the aphid must
be started all over again now that the
trees are again covered with leaves,
and knowledge of the insect will be
helpful to the tree owner in his fight,
Paul Davey, prominent tree expert,
advises.
The aphid is biological freak"
Davey states. Mature seems to have
had fear that they would not sur
vive, although man has never discov-
cred any useful reason for their sur
S1val. At any rate. they are en-
doWed with the powers of reproduc-
ton not possessed by any of the high
er forms of life known to man The
female aphid can reproduce without
mating. She can produce both living
young and eggs and for most of her
life she produces only female progeny,
endowed with her own powers of pro-
ducing other living female young.
Declared Beyond Comprehension.
The influence of these biological
peculiarities on the aphid birth rate
Is almost beyond comprehension.
When you know that female aphid
will produce from nine to sixteen
broods Of young in a Summer season,
each brood until those in the late
season comprising dozen or more
females who also have the power TO
reproduce without mating you do not
have to be very good at mathematics
to compute how many aphids one
r1atprna1 QnrpStnr would hc
sible for in season if they were all
permitted to live. Ten broods of ten
female young, each would mean TO-
600 900 900 in season.
The life cycle Of the aphid, and it
applies to most Of the many different
varieties, is as interesting as any
thing in natural history. Most of the
tree aphids start the season as eggs
which have Wintered over on twigs
and small branches. They hatch early
and are clustered around the buds
waiting for them to open. These
newly Matched are all females and
their reproduction Of living young
starts early and continues at frequent
Intervals all Summer All the living
Sodils ldlC III tllS SCuSoIl dlC lC.
males. The males seem to be almost
non-existent until late in the Sum-
mer season, when they begin to ap-
pear in the broods of young. 1t seems
that mating is necessary for the ferti-
lization of the eggs which are laid in
the Fall. and the male does not ap-
pear on the scene until he is needed
Ac Ia bor
female marries, settles down and lays
eggs all over the place for the next
seasons crop of destroyers.
Food for Ants.
'Aphids suck the juice from plants,
and give off from them an eXcretion
which may coat the leaves and fall to
the ground or on garden furniture in
sticky drops Ants feed on this juice
and are said to carry aphids under
ground for the Winter to protect
them. If you want the trees to keep
their own life juices the aphids must
be killed and that can only be with a
contact spray which actually touches
them, because their food is drawn
from beneath the surface where
poison sprays do not reach.
You can only fight aphids one way
Watch for them and spray thoroughly
when you see them. Most of them
have alternate feeding grounds, so
that you may spray today and find
new crop next week But if you
keep constant watch and spray when
they appear you can keep the upper
hand Obviously when you kill one
IN the Spring or early Summer you
prevent the birth of thousands. So
spray as early and as often as you
find them robbing your trees Of their
life blood"