74 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\^March, 



Degraw, Edwardsii, La Purite, and reerlcss, it 

 fails to produce so many flowers jis any of them. 

 Does it retiuire more heat? A prominent Car- 

 nation grower declares there is no diflbrence be- 

 tween it and Degraw, hut no two Carnations 

 could be more distinct. 



THE VERBENA. 



in" .1. W., TOLKDO, OHIO. 



In the last number of the Gardencr'x Monthly 

 I noticed several articles on Verbena culture, 

 and the rust that affects it. Now, I think " the 

 rust " is not a rust at all, but is the work of an in- 

 sect, which can be seen with a good pocket lens; 

 but in order to make it out clearly it needs a 

 compound microscope of considerable power. 



The said insect is of an oval shape, a little 

 more tapering towards the head end. It is of a 

 uniform glossy brown color, and about a hundred 

 and fiftieth of an inch long. It has four pairs 

 of legs, the two front pairs stand forward on the 

 body close on each side of the snout or sucker, the 

 snout being a little shorter than the front pair. 

 The front legs are three or four jointed, with 

 bristles at the joints, and terminate in four sharp 

 claws, with a sucking disk, which enables the 

 insect to run quite easily on the under side of a 

 piece of clean glass. The two pairs behind, are 

 inserted a little under the end of the body and 

 pretty close together. They are longer and 

 more slender than the fore legs ; the last pair 

 are quite slender and bristle-like, though they 

 are jointed and terminate in a long bristle, in- 

 stead of the claws and sucking disk. 



The eggs can be seen glued to the leaf; they 

 open like a clam to let the young escape, 

 and remain adhering, looking very clear and 

 silvery. The young insect is light colored at 

 first, and appears to undergo some slight change 

 in form. It has no eyes that I can discover, and 

 I think is a true mite; and may add, mighty 

 also in its numbers. It seems there is hardly 

 any plant exempt from its attack. I believe it 

 to be the cause of the dropping of Camellia 

 flower buds; it ean always be found in the loose 

 petals and scales of that flower, when it drops. 

 Then, when the flower buds are all gone, the in- 

 sect falls back on the leaf buds, till they are all 

 destroyed, and the plant dies. What florist is 

 there who has not watched his handsome plantsof 

 Camellia or Azalias commence in that way, 

 and gradually die, in spite of all his care, from 



no apparent cause but the blackening, harden- 

 ing process going on in the buds? 



As long as a plant is growing rapidly we do not 

 see much eff'eet; Itut let anything occur to check 

 the growth of the plant (j)<)t bound oi drouth) 

 and we soon see how quickly the disease gains 

 upon it. No, I do not think the insect waits 

 for sickly plants; on the contrary, the healthiest 

 afford it the most nourishment, but the less vig- 

 orous soon become sickly when the insect once 

 gains a footing. 



There is in my greenhouse a large jjlant of 

 Begonia Weltoniensis that has lost all its leaves 

 except at the ends of the main branches, the 

 strongest growing points. There it contiimes to 

 produce leaves, and even flowers, but the lateral 

 leaves all fall off, and the buds in the axils turn 

 black. The plant is just able to sustain its life 

 and growth at the strongest points. It illus- 

 trates well the struggle for life between the 

 plants and its foes. This insect has dif- 

 ferent effects on different plants; those with 

 leaves of a thin texture soon lose all their juices 

 and become black and shrivelled, as in the He- 

 liotrope and Verbena. Leaves of a thick, fleshy 

 substance, as the Cyclamen, become twisted, 

 distorted, and partially develoi)ed, perhaps only 

 one lobe. The flowers, too, suffer in the same 

 way, and show any form but the right one. A 

 year ago my Cyclamens w^ere so badly infested 

 with this pest that there was not a perfect leaf 

 on them. The plants were large, some of the 

 roots three inches across ; but I was in a mind 

 once to throw the whole lot away. Towards 

 Spring, however, I trimmed off every leaf and 

 gave the roots a good washing with strong to- 

 bacco water. After a while the young leaves 

 began to appear, when I frequently applied the 

 same wash. Now, at the present time, they are 

 looking pretty well and sending up plenty of 

 bloom; but still there are traces of the insect in 

 the deformity of some leaves. This insect seems 

 to get so deep within the young buds, or buries 

 itself in the soft pulp, and is further protected 

 by the fine hairs to beset many kinds of 

 leaves, that it is difficult to reach it with any 

 kind of liquid intended to kill it. It is a 

 low type of insect, perhaps with no regular 

 breathing apparatus, or a very rudimentary 

 one. It is not near so highly developed 

 a creature as the green fly, or perhaps tobacco 

 smoke would check it some. Red spider being 

 some such thing as a mite, is able to resist any 

 fumigation that it is safe to apply. The best 



