LITTLE GARDENS 



beset by worms, beetles and thrip. The two 

 former you often dislodge when you shower the 

 plant with a hose, and you may throw some of 

 them to the ground by shaking the bush, in which 

 case you will shake off more petals than insects; 

 but the thrip, which in its nymphal form is a 

 whitish fly, hardly an eighth of an inch long, 

 with a baffling, parabolic manner of flight, clings 

 to the under side of the leaves and escapes wet- 

 ting and observation. Soot has been used to 

 destroy these vermin, but a bush covered with 

 soot is even more unsightly than a bush covered 

 with parasites, because you can see the soot. 

 And again, there is not much soot in town; at 

 least, there should not be, for it gathers thickest 

 where we permit the burning of soft coal and 

 the making of impure gas — enemies of gardens, 

 by the bye. Powdered white hellebore, in solu- 

 tion, syringed over the bushes, is said to be harm- 

 ful to thrip. If the new ramblers are unsavory to 

 these little feeders, that, to be sure, is a reason 

 for cultivating them; yet I think there is no plant 

 that is not a joy to some manner of creature that 

 we believe ought not to be there. 



Why is it that we see so few of the yellow 

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