APHIDS OR PLANT LICE. 



:87 



spoke words which caused his arrest, and 

 while expiating his folly within the walls of 

 a prison, a little flower springs up between 

 the chinks of the stones in the court yard 

 and became to him a messenger of love and 

 mere}' and his acknowledgment of God. 



This plant is known to us as the wall- 

 flower, and it is familiar to all. It was in- 

 troduced in England in 1573, and is a native 

 of the south of Europe, Egypt and Morocco. 



It does not appear to be a wild flower, and 

 is, I believe, only found where men have 

 lived or are living. It is the flower with 

 which the romance writers embellish all tiieir 

 decaying battlements, falling towers, and 

 monastic ruins. The English name refers 

 to the habit of the plant as an inhabitant Of 

 walls and rocks. The Latin name, Cheir- 

 anthus-Cheiri, implies that it is in an espec- 

 ial manner a nosegay or handflower. 



APHIDS OR PLANT LICE. 



THEIR EGGS BEGIN TO HATCH WITH FIRST WARM WEATHER. 



AMONG the very first insect eggs to 

 hatch are those of the various spe- 

 cies of aphis, or plant lice. These are among 

 the most destructive and difficult to suppress 

 of all insect pests, and where it is possible 

 to prevent them from getting a ^tart, meas- 

 ures to accomplish this should not be ne- 

 glected. The eggs of aphidae are minute, 

 oval, shining black bodies, that are to be 

 found at the base of buds of various trees 

 and shrubs, in many cases easily distinguish- 

 able by the naked eye. In some instances 

 they are in dense clusters surrounding each 

 bud, as in the case of the species infesting 

 the " silver berry," a very ornamental shrub 

 or small tree of the " false olive " family, 

 while those found on the apple, plum, honey- 

 suckle and other buds are more scattering. 

 Some of these are even now hatching into 



the " stem mothers," which bring forth their 

 young alive and ready to begin their sap- 

 sucking at once, and which are the progeni- 

 tors of innumerable generations in the course 

 of the season. 



Wherever these are noticed — and it 's 

 worth while to make careful observations on 

 all trees and shrubby plants that are subject 

 to such attacks — the kerosene emulsion 

 spray cannot be brought into requisition any 

 too soon. Fruit and flower buds are still 

 too undeveloped to be injured by the appli- 

 cation, and it is much easier to bring it in 

 contact with the newly-hatched insects at is 

 season than after the foliage has come out, 

 among which they hide, and often curl the 

 leaves to that no spray can be brought in 

 contact with them. 



Art of Japanese Gardeners. — A Japan- 

 ese gardener does not strive after bright 

 colors. His object is to counterfeit a natu- 

 ral scene as nearly as possible. He cheats 

 your eye into a loss of all sen<;e of perspec- 

 tive. By judiciously selecting his trees and 



keeping every object on a small scale he can 

 make you imagine that his garden is very 

 much longer than it is, and somehow he 

 manages to deceive you as to its boundaries 

 by artful arrangements of shrubs and stone 

 work. 



