A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE INSECTS THAT ARE INJU- 

 RIOUS TO THE PLANTS OF THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



To give a description of all the insects that infest the plants 

 of the flower-garden, it would be necessary to write a volume, 

 so numerous are the voracious tribe that prey upon the roots, 

 stems, foliage, and flowers of the floral kingdom. The depre- 

 dation of insects is one of the greatest offsets to the pleas- 

 ures of the garden. To nurse some favorite plant, watching 

 over it from day to day, anticipating its opening beauties, and 

 then, just as one's hopes are upon the point of being realized, 

 to see the plant suddenly smitten with some mysterious dis- 

 ease, or as suddenly destroyed by some noxious tribe of ver- 

 min, perhaps dying in a night, like Jonah's gourd, who 

 can help feeling a little ruffled, or even like justifying good old 

 Jonah, who thought it " well to be angry for his gourd ? " 



The knowledge we possess of the habits of the various in- 

 sects is very scanty. We are indebted, mainly, to that excel- 

 lent work, " A Treatise on some of the Insects of New England, 

 which are injurious to Vegetation," by Dr. T. W. Harris, of 

 Cambridge, Mass., for all that is important in relation to them 

 in this section of our work. Dr. Harris' Treatise should be 

 accessible to every one who has anything to do with the culti- 

 vation of the farm or garden. His descriptions are so plain, 

 that almost any person may get all the desirable information 

 of all the insects of which he treats. It is said by competent 

 persons, that this Treatise is the most complete, as far as it 

 goes, of any work in the English language. 



Some of the most annoying insects of the flower-garden, are 

 the Rose Sawfly, or Rose Slug, and the Rose Bug. 



Rose Slug. The Rose Slug has, within a few years, proved 

 very destructive to the Rose, in the vicinity of Boston, and 



