iSyi.] HORTICULTURAL BREAKERS. 257 



Stephenson's building, it teaches a practical lesson in the long-run. 

 Insect-life is one of nature's destructive forces, from the gardener's 

 point of view. We need not wander from home to instance the locust — 

 we have abundance of the genus aphis attending the east winds in 

 spring, and flies of various denominations and colours — red-spider and 

 thrips, those sjDry and diminutive gentry, altogether more formidable 

 than the corpulent and dignified green-fly. Then there is the armour- 

 plated scale — there is really nothing new under the sun — and its woolly 

 cousin the mealy bug, the most irrepressible of all. It is a wonder that, in 

 those days of the division of labour, some enterprising individual does 

 not start business in some horticultural centre as a mealy-bug catcher. 

 The war that is made on those multitudinous pests by the gardening 

 fraternity is of a very savage character : we stifle them, as Lord Dun- 

 donald proposed to do the Russians, by smoke or small dust ; or we 

 bathe them in some treacherous liquid, and half shirk ghastly blame by 

 calling it an insecticide. Is there greater mischief still a-hatching for 

 the enemy in the new and mysterious phytosmegama 1 the very name is 

 terrible. We fear that, after all, we shall be beaten in the direct con- 

 test : even the best insecticide we are acquainted with, industry and 

 plenty of clean water, will not prevail unless otherwise applied. Every 

 gardener knows how difficult it is sometimes to battle with red-spider, 

 thrips, scale, or fly even, with syringe and tobacco-smoke— how they 

 will be put down to return again ; the former involves much labour, the 

 latter much expense. 



We are satisfied the principle of health in the plant has altogether 

 to do with parasites — the principle of the strong destroying the vreak, 

 one of nature's destructive forces. Alderman ISIechi, some years ago, 

 got laughed at for advising that all the borders of fields adjoining 

 game covers should be highly manured, and better cultivated than even 

 the central parts, as the best protection against rabbits and ground 

 game. This advice being quite contrary to the usual practice, it was 

 considered one of his agricultural eccentricities ; but he was quite right. 

 The rabbit cannot endure soft rank food — it thrives best on hard dry 

 grass on sandy downs ; sheep also suffer in spring on the soft young 

 grass and turnip-tops, if they have not some dry hay or chafi" to qualify 

 it : even the ox and horse in the field is seen to avoid the rank 

 coarse grass which has grown on a former deposit of manure, and 

 will nibble at some bare sweet patches where there is scarce a 

 mouthful in preference ; and a certain way to protect a young planta- 

 tion from game in winter is, to spread the lopped-off branches of trees 

 about, which will be stripped of their bark in preference to the fresh 

 plants. Just the same principle holds good in insect-life — neither red- 

 spider nor thrips will attack a plant if that plant be sufficiently supplied 



