46 WINDOW GARDENING. 



with the heat however, and see how they will fall down completely stupefied; but, 

 if left to themselves, they will revive, and slowly return to their leafy homes. 

 Place a paper under the leaves when you apply the smoke, and then you can 

 easilj"- destroy them. 



If a plant is very much infested with these noxious pests, take the pot in your 

 hand and spread a paper under it, then with a feather or small wing, brush off 

 the insects and burn them all up. Then dip the plant into warm water, to kill 

 the eggs, and with a weekly washing, smoking or sprinkling, not an insect will 

 be seen. 



A conservatory plant-stand, or window garden with plants covered with these 

 insects, plainly announces the neglect they have received. The old maxim seems 

 to come here again in play, i. e. " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 

 cure." 



If plants were as carefully washed and tended as many pet animals were, 

 there would be no need of any remedies against insects. 



Conservatories can be kept free of all insects by being smoked once a week 

 with tobacco. Close all the windows carefully that lead into the house, take 

 the largest size flower pot-saucer, put a shovel full of blazing coals into it, and 

 pour over them an ounce of tobacco, letting it smoke well ; if it is slightly damp- 

 ened the smoke will be more dense. Let it smoke for half an hour, then open 

 the window out of doors, and let the smoke go out. Choose a bright fair day 

 when half an hour's outside air will not injure the plants, and you will keep all of 

 them fresh and vigorous. 



The mealy bug, is a white mealy looking insect, but very destructive to plant 

 life. It does not dislike tobacco, but has a hatred to whale oil soap. A quarter 

 of a pound dissolved in five quarts of water, and syringed on to the plants, or 

 sprinkled with a watering pot, will force it to disappear. 



Like the aphis, it can be brushed off with a chicken's wing. 



Brown scale will sometimes attack Roses, Daphnes, Oranges and Pittosporums, 

 but it is not nearly as common as the above mentioned insect. Bad ventilation 

 and dark places are its chief cause and habitat ; frequent washings and picking 

 off with the hand, are its only means of destruction, as it thrives on tobacco 

 smoke, and makes no objection to the disgusting odor of whale oil soap suds. 



Thrips is a dark brown or whitish yellow fly, very active on the wing, and 

 greatly injurious to many plants. It will not thrive where tobacco smoke is 

 given to plants, and is most likely to be found where plants are placed thickly 

 together, in a shaded window. 



The Verbena mite is a most tiny insect, smaller than the red spider, and quite 

 as disastrous in its ravages. It cannot be seen with the naked eye, but viewed 

 through a microscope, it appears as large as a house fly. 



If it attacks your plants, it appears like a black rust so thickly does it congre- 

 gate together. It delights in Heliotropes, Petunias, Verbenas, etc., and is closely 

 allied to the insect which infests the Plum, Peach and Cherry trees. 



Neither sulphur, tobacco, or whale oil soap are obnoxious to it, but it will run 



