152 VILLA GARDENING I'Airr ii 



aud captured. A rap of the pot ou the edge of the potting 

 bench will very often bring the ■worm to the surface. If that 

 does not suffice, turn tlie plant out and run a piece of wire 

 (a knitting needle will do) up through the ball in one or two 

 places. This invariably brings them out, and if carefully done 

 no harm will follow. New Holland plants are not often sub- 

 jected to insects. Occasionally a brown and less frequently a 

 small white scale attacks the bark of the stems, to which the 

 latter clings with great tenacity. The brown scale can easily be 

 got rid of by washing with a sponge, using a strong solution of 

 soft soap or Gishurst compound ; but the small white scale is more 

 difficult to eradicate, and strong solutions of soap or Gishiu-st 

 are necessary to dislodge it. If a plant should at any time 

 become badly affected, it is better to destroy it, and start afresh 

 with a young clean plant, than incur the labour and trouble 

 necessary for its disinfection. Water heated to 120", witli soap 

 in solution, syringed over a badly -affected plant, will clear off 

 large niunbers of the clinging pest, but no rest must be taken so 

 long as a scale remains ; and unless one is endoAved with a great 

 amount of energy and i)atience, it is better to stamp the insect out 

 at once and begin anew. 



There are other insect pests to deal with, such as ajjliides and 

 red spider ; the former is usually most troublesome just as the 

 young growth breaks out in spring, and a few fumigations with 

 Tobacco will, if taken in time, keep the plants clean. The red 

 spider, as a nde, only comes with the heat of summer, and may be 

 set at defiance if one has a good syringe and uses it freely, with 

 soft rain Avater only. In the 



Summer Management of New Holland Plants when the 

 growth has been completed under glass, which will generally be 

 done by the beginning of July, a sheltered position in the open air 

 shoidd be prepared for the plants by laying down a couple of inches 

 of coal ashes for them to stand on to keep the worms out of the pots. 

 They may be arranged in l)eds for convenience of access, as very 

 careful watering will be necessary, and each plant must be within 

 reach of the hand which wields the waterpot. Indeed 



Wateking is the most important operation in connection with 

 plant cultm-e in pots. As each plant, as a rule, requires looking 

 at daily, there are 365 opportunities for making mistakes every 

 year. Small cause should there be for wonder, therefore, if a plant 

 occasionally gets a drop too much, or is stinted, as the case may 

 be, in trying to avoid an over-liberal hand. Whenever a plant 

 requires water, enough should be given to moisten the whole body 

 of soil. This rule holds good, no matter what the season of the 



