The Pests of Garden Plants 



MEALY BUG 

 Dactylopius odonidum 



eggshell (enlarged eighty diameters). The only remedy known at 

 present is to remove and burn all infected plants, and to replace the 

 compost with entirely fresh soil. A dressing of lime and soot upon 

 the soil where Cucumbers are to be grown is useful as a check. 



Mealy Bug. This plague is by no means confined to plants 

 under glass. In the case of a lot of stove plants badly affected, 



the desperate course of com- 

 mitting the whole to the fire, 

 and then repairing and paint- 

 ing the house, is often the 

 cheapest in the end. We have 

 known a Pine-grower com- 

 pelled to destroy a houseful of 

 plants that have been infested 

 by the introduction of a plant 

 from a buggy collection. 

 Mealy Bug may be known by its mealy, floury, or cottony appearance. 

 It has a great fancy for Grape vines. One of the best remedies 

 is Gishurst Compound, prepared at the rate of eight ounces to a 

 gallon of water, with clay added to give it the consistence of paint. 

 Miscellaneous stove plants may be cleansed by washing with a 

 brush and soft soap. Our illustration shows a group of Mealy Bugs 

 natural size, with one insect magnified. 



Red Spider is present in almost every vinery, however well 

 managed. A moist atmosphere is a great, though not a certain, pre- 

 ventive; but it is not possible, 

 without injury to the vines, 

 to keep the air of the house 

 always so humid that the 

 Spider is unable to obtain a 

 lodgment. Syringing pro- 

 motes a moist atmosphere, and 

 is unfavourable to the Red 

 Spider, which thrives best in 

 heat and dryness. But the 

 most decided repellent of 

 Spider is the use of sulphur 

 on the hot-water pipes. This 



may be managed by sprinkling dry sulphur on the pipes, or by 



410 



RED SPIDER 

 Tetranychtts telarius 



