THE SPINDLE TREE. 167
A list of the Chigwell Parochial Charities made in 1894
records that "Joan Simpson's Trust last appears in the Return
"to the Charity Commissioners of 1861 : it then disappears"
but later information disproves this statement.
As recently as March, 1939, Joan Simpson's land was sold
by her Trustees to the London Parochial Charities for £3,150, the
property being described in the Conveyance as freehold, com-
prising "all that piece or parcel of land known as Joan Simpson's
"Field but formerly two pieces or parcels respectively called
"Brache Close and Long Lees, containing 16.548 acres and
"numbered 167 on the Ordnance Survey Map." The accom-
panying plan shows Joan Simpson's Field as lying between the
Grange Farm lands and the Sports Fields of Chigwell Grammar
School. The rental value was now £20 per annum.
I have thus traced the history both of the house and of the
land owned by Joan Simpson during 400 years past.
THE SPINDLE TREE AND ITS RELATION TO BEET
APHIS CONTROL.
By WILLIAM HEELEY, B.Sc., Ph.D.
[Read 26th February, 1944.]
AMONG the countless influences upon the flora and fauna
of the country that the war in all its ramifications has
exerted, one which will be of interest to botanical and zoological
members alike is the prominent role which an extremely decora-
tive, but hitherto economically unimportant, member of our
British flora, the Spindle tree, Euonymus europaeus, is assuming in
relation to the spread of the Black Aphis, Aphis fabae Scop
(rumicis Linn.), a pest which is causing severe losses to the newly
developed sugar-beet industry in this country.
Previous to the war, infestations of black aphis on sugar beet
—similar in appearance and effects to those on broad beans well
known to every gardener and caused by the same species—were
on the whole slight, though in 1938 it was very prevalent every-
where and caused greater losses than it has ever caused before in
this country. The part played by the Spindle in providing a
winter host for the aphis has long been known, but not until
the great increase in acreage of the Summer host plant, the beet,
commenced, did the control of the black aphis become a serious
problem.
A promising line of attack was the destruction of the aphis
when its numbers are fewest, during its over-wintering phase,