138 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



pound will do for several applications. Tease out the paper and put 

 a small handful above the red cinder in the canister, and place it 

 inside the greenhouse on the edges of two small pots to cause a 

 draught, and shut it up close. When the house is quite full so that 

 you can hardly see the plants, take out the canister quickly and keep 

 the greenhouse shut for nearly half an hour ; then open it and let 

 out the smoke, and the deed is done. After the smoke is all out, take 

 the plants to the door and give them a good syringing to remove the 

 dead and dying insects. Take care not to overdo it in smoking 

 plants, as you might burn them ; better do it moderately and repeat 

 it than overdo it once. 



If you have only one or two plants infested, the best plan is to 

 have a large paper bag big enough to cover the plant entirely and 

 close enough down so that a handful or two of soil may be put round 

 the bottom to keep it close ; this with one of the corners torn off 

 makes an excellent smoking apparatus, and you need only to puff the 

 smoke from your pipe in at the corner till the bag is full. Keep the 

 corner shut with your fingers, or pin it close for some time, and then 

 let the smoke escape by the corner. 



Two other insects, a small red spider and a longish grey insect 

 called thrip, are very bad on plants. Treating them the same way 

 with tobacco smoke, and washing the plants well, will exterminate 

 them quickly. They are as great a plague as greenfly when allowed 

 to increase. 



There are three other insects which may trouble you sometimes, 

 called brown-scale, white-scale, and 'mealy-bug. It is just a chance if 

 ever you are troubled with them. Brown and white-scale stick close 

 to the stems, giving them a spotted appearance. Mealy-bug looks 

 like a small patch of down sticking in the axil of the leaves ; it is a 

 small yellowish grey insect, much like a bug in shape with a soft 

 white downy substance wrapped round it. Hard-wooded plants only 

 are infested with scale. Mealy-bug attacks hard and soft wooded 

 plants alike. A sponge and soap-and-water is the best cure for 

 them. 



You may likely be troubled wilh slugs. They crawl over the 

 plants leaving their slimy paths, and nibbling at the leaves and tender 

 shoots, often causing great destruction. If you find their traces about 

 your plants hunt for them with a candle at night among the leaves 

 and pots ; you are sure to get them then if they are there, as they 

 come out during night to feed. ^^ 



I hope you will understand how to manage your plants now if 

 infested with insects. But remember, plants, when kept clean and 

 in good health, are scarcely ever troubled with insect pests. 



PROPAGATING AND TRAINING OF PLANTS. 



To have some knowledge of the training and propagating of 

 plants is very necessary. A few simple rules are all that you require, 

 as taste and circumstances must guide you a great deal in this matter. 

 Plants ot a slender growth such as fuchsias, pelargoniums, petunias, 

 etc., should be staked with neat wooden stakes painted green. When 





