GENERAL CULTIVATION 53 



often as not, it is the rarest plant or a particular seedling 

 that is made the subject of this outrage. If noticed in 

 time, the soil may be promptly removed from around the 

 plant and the wireworm caught and destroyed. With 

 the help of a mulching and a good watering, the plant 

 may survive and grow on, but unhappily this cannot 

 always be effected. Of course, the more tufted varieties 

 are much more likely to survive, and in fact very fre- 

 quently do, as in this case the plant has its other growths 

 to fall back on, the wireworm seldom attacking all. 



Then again, there is the leather jacket grub. This, 

 fortunately, is not so common as the pest before- 

 mentioned, but does quite as much harm. In appearance 

 this creature is of a browny-grey colour, and of an aver- 

 age size of about an inch and a half long and as thick 

 as a lead pencil. The skin is very tough hence the 

 name but of a more yielding character than that of the 

 wireworm. It must be destroyed at all costs when 

 caught. Its plan of attack is much the same as that of 

 the wireworm. The only remedy is to keep watch for 

 this depredator when plants are attacked, or when it is 

 suspected of being within the neighbourhood of one's 

 Pansies. 



Another depredator which sometimes accounts for 

 plants going wrong and dying off during hot weather, 

 is a millepede of a slatey-brown colour, about half an 

 inch long. This attacks the root of the plant by remov- 

 ing the outer skin of the tender young roots, thus 

 causing the plant to fail. Watering with soot water is 

 advised as a remedy in cases of this kind. 



Of course, slugs are almost sure to make an appearance, 

 especially in confined areas, such as small suburban 

 gardens, but soot or lime spread around the plants will 

 quickly act as a deterrent to these abominations. 



Plants that have been flowering continuously for some 

 considerable time, and those also in damp situations are 



