IRISH GARDENING 



59 



Amateur Fern Growing. 



By H. D. 



(Continued). 



Greenfly are very likely to appear, especially 

 on some ierns, such as T'olypodys and Maiden- 

 hairs. .J?hey are not likely to be troublesome if 

 ntlier plants than ferns are excluded from the 

 liouse. liumigation will ^et rid of theni easily ; 



the house, making every i^lant attacked look 

 shabby and feel sickly, if the house is allowed to 

 become too dry in summer. If, however, not 

 only are the plants well %Aatered, but the floor 

 kept well watered, and so the whole air of the 

 house thoroughly saturated with moisture, thrip 

 is not likely to appear. If it does, fumigate twice 

 in one week, and ply the watercan. 



Scale (or hug) is another common scourge. It 

 again tends to affect the same kinds of plants 

 as thrip. To the inexperienced it may easily 



PKIMrr.A IN\ OlACKATA, 



Native of the Himalaya. 



two, or at m.ost three, fumigations in the season 

 will sufiice. Several excellent (!) materials for 

 this purpose may be obtained front garden- 

 supply lirms, and the directions for their use 

 followed — so no more need be said here. 



Thrii) is a bad pest, but should not appear. 

 It affects mostly ferns with, hard or firm texture 

 of leaf, such as Harts-tongues, Cyrtomiums, »kc. 

 A grey appearance will be seen on the leaf in 

 diffused patches : on turning it over there will 

 be seen small black insects about tV^Ii of an inch 

 long, generally lying close to the veins of the 

 leaflet, some immature forms may be seen, 

 smaller and pale yellow, almost white in colour. 

 These will appear and spread rapidly through 



escape detection, being mistaken for natural 

 scales on the plant. They are like limpets that 

 we see on seashore rocks, but only about the size 

 of a nullet seed. They will be found stuck along 

 the leafstem and back of the mid-rib and main 

 veins. If a plant is found badly affected, the 

 best treatment is to pull it up and put it^ in the 

 fire. If lightly affected the only way of clearing 

 it is to sponge and rub off the scales with water 

 and soft soap. This is a most laborious proce.ss, 

 and is likely not to be accomplished without 

 considerable iujury to the plant. So as we are 

 out for pleasure, we will jjuII up and l>urn this 

 lightly affected plant also. 



Another enemy may be mentioned — namely, 



