FLORICULTURE. 273 



when most likely- they are suffering from greenfly or red spider. 

 These should always be watched for and guarded against. Smok- 

 ing and spraj-ing- are the florists' defence in the greenhouse, but 

 they are not very successfullj' done in the house. There are prob- 

 ably many of the various insectides in use which will help us to rid 

 ourselves of these plant enemies, and there is one compound w^e 

 have tried and are well pleased with. Sulpho-tobacco soap made bj' 

 the Rose Manufacturing Companj^, of Buffalo. For destruction of 

 green flj', red spider, scale and mealy bug, it has proved very effec- 

 tive. 



We must not omit chrj-santhemums. The black aphis troubles 

 thein, but they are easily got rid of. Small plants in the spring 

 ma5^ be grown to large ones in the fall, and after blooming and cut- 

 ting back the old plants 11133- be kept long enough to j'ield some 

 side shoots for future use and then thrown away, onlj* taking- up 

 much house room when in flower and a little before. If we have 

 a cool east window, we may have from seed blooming plants of 

 primroses, cyclamans, cinnerarias and pansies, keeping a sharp out- 

 look for insects and being careful about watering. 



OUR NATIVE SHRUBS AND VINES FOR ORNAMENTAL 

 PLANTING. (A TALK). 



C. L. SMITH, MINNEAPOLIS. 

 I selected this subject because it is one that I think is more gener- 

 ally neglected than anj- other, and more generally misunderstood 

 than any other subject pertaining to our work: "The use of our 

 native vines and shrubs for ornamental planting." I had occasion 

 in traveling through the country this fall to make some observations 

 on this subject. I counted twenty farm houses that I passed in one 

 afternoon, and seven of them had fairly good porches in front of 

 them. It was just at the time when the earlj^ frosts were coloring 

 our native vines and shrubs beautifully, and I did not see a vine on 

 one of the seven porches, and from any one of those porches at that 

 time one could have seen a beautiful picture made with autumn 

 leaves from our native vines and shrubs. I was thinking last night 

 when friend Dobbyn was talking about the ideal reformer, how far 

 the ideal was away from the real, and then I thought how much 

 some of us in this world lost, or seemed to lose, by striving after an 

 ideal to the entire neglect of the real or practical that was right 

 within our reach. Now, I presume I am not overestimating when I 

 say that if one-tenth part of the money expended for foreign shrubs 

 and vines with which to ornament our homes had been expended in 

 planting and caring for our native shrubs and vines, that our yards 

 and streets and our homes would be better ornamented with frees 

 shrubs and vines than they are today. I had occasion while visiting- 

 the city of Washington to go through the parks there, and I saw 

 something there that might be a surprise to many of you — it was to 

 me, at least; and that was, the most beautiful specimens of trees 

 growing- in those parks were just such as we have growing wild in 

 Minnesota. 



