110 INSECT PESTS 



expect things to happen and stiffen your sinews accord- 

 ingly. You must justify your desire for a greenhouse 

 by defending it against all comers. 



Cockchafers mil blunderingly collide with the glass in 

 compUment to its liquid clearness and retire with certain 

 language and a broken nose. Waterbeetles will alight 

 with grace and spend lots of time endeavouring to take 

 headers into the Hmpid depths which strangely resist all 

 their efforts, and are only induced (upon reflection) to 

 seek some sensible pond wherein they may rest their 

 aching joints and tell a few friends their opinion of man- 

 kind as fraudulent copyists of Nature. If we have been 

 so misguided as to put up our structure on the ground 

 itself, without building dwarf walls of concrete or brick, 

 with cement floors and plant beds of thoroughly cleansed 

 soil, we shall have the worshipful company of wireworms 

 assisted by youthful may-bugs fully aUve to the possi- 

 bilities of root-eating and stem-boring just as much 

 in advance of the season as are the plants them- 

 selves. 



If our house is built with heavy rafters that exclude the 

 light and need a great deal of putty, these will also afford 

 many a handy retreat for the eggs of the red spider during 

 its quiescent period. Mealy-bug, thrips, white scale, 

 woodlice, the winged females of green and white fly, the 

 spores of mildew, canker and fungi will all find snug 

 homes in such tiny cubby holes as the lappings of the 

 glass, sash openings, door frames, struts and skirting 

 boards, if any of these are ever allowed to harbour the 

 merest suspicion of dirt. Moral : — Have your panes of 

 glass as large as possible, a minimum of putty or else 

 patent glazing, framework as hght as is consistent with 

 strength ; then swill out frequently all such harbours of 

 trouble above referred to : give a coat of paint or creosote 

 at favourable opportunities when the house is at rest. 

 The milk-white cleanhness of the successful nurseryman 

 is more than a foible of professional pride. He has 



