THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



407 



closed and partially filled with leaves 

 should be inverted over the entrance to 

 the nest, and the ground round the nest 

 kept well watered ; the ants will soon leave 

 the damp earth and move their nest into 

 the dry pot. In about a fortnight the pot 

 may be removed and its contents thrown 

 into a pail of boiling water. 



Aphides (the family to which the green- 

 fly and other nearly allied insects belong) 

 may be destroyed in various ways, but 

 whatever means are used no time should 

 be lost in applying them as soon as the 

 insects are noticed, as the latter increase 

 and multiply in the most rapid manner. 

 Spraying or syringing the plants is one of 

 the most effectual methods of killing 

 these pests. For this purpose use the 

 extract from 6 oz. of quassia chips, 4 oz. of 

 soft soap, well mixed and added to 5 gallons 

 of water ; paraffin emulsion, or a quarter of 

 a pint of soluble paraffin in two gallons of 

 water. They may also be destroyed when 

 the plants are wet by dusting them with 

 snuff", powdered tobacco,or Pyrethrum pow- 

 der (commonly known as insect powder),or 

 they may be killed by tobacco smoke. 

 This can be effected out of doors by 

 covering the plant with some tolerably air- 

 tight cloth and applying the smoke with a 

 fumigator. When pruning Roses in the 

 spring or autumn, the shoots cut off should 

 always be burnt, as they may have some 

 eggs of these insects on them. 



Bell moths or Rose Tortrices 

 (Tortricida;). — The caterpillars of several 

 members of this family attack the leaves 

 and flower-buds of Roses, rolling up and 

 feeding on the leaves, and eating the young 

 petals, or making holes in the buds. From 

 the sheltered positions that they occupy,in- 

 secticides are almost useless ; pinching the 

 curled leaves is the easiest way of killing 

 them, if you can be quite sure that the 

 intended victim has not dropped out before 

 your fingers closed on the leaf ; or a basket 

 may be held under the leaf or bud, which 

 should be cut off so that it falls into the 

 basket. The leaves and buds should then 

 be burnt or crushed. 



The bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus echin- 

 opus). — This little mite feeds on the bulbs 

 of Hyacinths, Daffodils, and probably on 

 those of other bulbous plants. It also 

 attacks the stems of Carnations. It is 

 impossible to make any insecticide reach 

 them while the bulbs are in the soil, and 

 even when taken up, as the mites work 

 between the scales of the bulbs, it is only 

 after many hours soaking that they can be 

 reached. For this purpose use the extract 

 from 4 oz. of quassia chips mixed in 2 

 gallons of water, or 3 lb. of sulphide of 



potassium dissolved in one gallon of water. 

 The bulbs should be allowed to soak in one 

 of these mixtures for twenty-four hours, 

 and even then it may not be successful, as 

 it is very difficult to make fluid pass freely 

 between the scales of the bulbs, as there 

 is often air imprisoned there. Immersing 

 the bulbs in water at a temperature of 120"' 

 Fahr. for a quarter of an hour would, I 

 believe, kill them ; the mites when taken 

 from the bulbs and placed in water at 115° 

 Fahr. died in less than five minutes. The 

 mites are only about one-twentieth of an 

 inch in length, and are of a milk-white 

 colour, and may be easily mistaken for 

 grains of sand, but they may readily be 

 detected with a good pocket lens. 



The Carnation FLY(Hylemyianigre- 

 scens). — The grubs of this fly feed on the 

 pith of the stems of Carnations, doing 

 much injury to the plants. The grubs, 

 each about three-eighths of an inch in 

 length, are nearly white with dark heads. 

 There is no remedy but burning the 

 affected plants. 



The Cockchafer or May bug (Melo- 

 lontha vulgaris). — This insect is injurious 

 to plants both as a beetle and as a grub ; the 

 cockchafers feed on the leaves of various 

 trees, and the grubs on the roots of most 

 plants. It appears to be useless to try 

 and kill the grub with any insecticide, but 

 strong salt and water, or gas liquor diluted 

 with ten times its bulk of water, renders 

 the soil distasteful to them. The only 

 practical way of destroying them is to open 

 the ground round a plant which is attacked 

 and find the grub. When full grown the 

 grubs are each about two inches long and 

 half an inch in diameter. They usually 

 lie in a curved position, are whitish in 

 colour, but the tail, which is the thickest 

 part of the body, is bluish. As they take 

 three years to come to maturity, one grub 

 will do an enormous amount of damage in 

 the course of its life. The cockchafers 

 may be shaken or beaten off the trees in 

 the middle of the day, when they are 

 generally sluggish, and crushed or col- 

 lected as they lie on the ground. 



Daddy-longlegs or crane fly (Tip- 

 ula oleracea). — The grubs of this insect are 

 among the most mischievous of our gar- 

 den pests, as they destroy the roots of 

 turf and many other plants they will eat 

 right through the tap-root, and then go on 

 to another plant and do the same. Theyare 

 greyish brown grubs ; when full grown they 

 are each about one and a half mches long 

 and about a quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 thickest near the tail, and tapering towards 

 the head. They are commonly known by 

 the name of leather jackets. They are 



