The Pests of Garden Plants 



done to the crops. In the same way the Gooseberry grub should be 

 disposed of. Precautions cannot be taken against Caterpillars, but 

 the careful cultivator will in good time look for patches of eggs and 

 clusters of young Caterpillars on the under sides of leaves, and will 

 carefully nip off the leaves on which the colonies are feeding, and 

 make an end of them. This enemy cannot be raked in rank and 

 file, but must be taken in detail, as in guerilla warfare. 



Earwigs are the dread of the florist, for they spoil his best 

 Dahlias and Hollyhocks, and are too partial to Chrysanthemums. 

 They are easily trapped, as they like to go up to a high, dry, \dark 

 retreat ; hence a bit of dry moss in a 

 small flower-pot, inverted on a stake, 

 will entice them into your hands ; and 

 if you are determined to keep down 

 Earwigs, this way is sure, though, 

 perhaps, not easy, because it must be 

 followed up morning and evening from 

 the beginning of June onwards. The 

 hollow stems of the Bean make good 

 traps, as indeed do hollow stems of any EARWIG 



kind, for Earwigs love tO Creep into (with wings spread, magnified) 



close, dark retreats after their nocturnal 



meal ; and the cultivator who has resolved that he will not be eaten up 

 by them needs only to persevere, and he may depend on trapping 

 every Earwig within the boundaries. Unfortunately, they use their 

 wings freely, and so travel from the sluggard's garden to find ' fresh 

 fields and pastures new.' 



Slugs are serious plagues to the gardener, and it appears some- 

 times as if the little Slugs came down in showers, so suddenly and 

 so plentifully do we find them distributed. The crops are, when 

 young and growing freely, peculiarly liable to injury by Slugs, and 

 it is not easy to subdue the pest, even in gardens. Here, how- 

 ever, as in the case of many other kinds of vermin, means may 

 be adopted that will accomplish the double purpose of destroying 

 the plague and benefiting the land ; for lime, salt, soot, and nitrate 

 of soda are certain Slug-killers, and will usually pay for their em- 

 ployment by their enrichment of the ground. The nice point always 

 is to employ them advantageously. Land made ready for sowing 

 may be pretty well cleared of Slugs by broadcasting it with salt. 



