86 CARNATIONS AND PINKS 



of maggots, to work destruction in autumn and winter. 

 There is no other way of dealing with the Carnation 

 maggot except by hunting it out in the way suggested. 

 The grubs are about one-eighth inch in length, legless, 

 and white with dark heads. The 



Earwig {Forficula auricularid) will sometimes do 

 much damage. It makes a snug retreat inside the 

 calyx of the flower, where both shelter and food are 

 available. This familiar garden pest, a bugbear to 

 the Dahlia grower, and an annoyance to all who 

 garden, does not touch the root or leaf of the 

 Carnation, but eats through the petals at the base 

 inside the calyx, and one knows it is at work by the 

 petals falling out. Nothing in the work of the garden 

 is more annoying than to find the flower beauty 

 destroyed before it is possible to save them, but 

 careful scrutiny of the plants from the first will 

 prevent much disappointment. Bean stalks placed 

 between the flower stem and its support form a 

 hiding-place for the earwigs, and hundreds may be 

 trapped in this way. This is the general plan adopted 

 for getting rid of these pests on Dahlias. The 



Eelworm is not common, for which the Carnation 

 grower may well be thankful. Its presence may be 

 known by the crippled appearance of the plants, 

 leaves not half their usual length, and a much swollen 

 and whitish base. These are the result of small 

 nematoid worms inside the leaves, and sometimes 

 one or two layers are attacked, the pest leaving the 

 others alone. The only way to get rid of these 

 worms is by removing the affected layers bodily and 



