CHAPTER XXXV 



SOME COMMON PESTS 



IT is only when the beginner comes to close grips with the art 

 and practice of gardening that he realises that there is a 

 seamy side to his hobby. His breast swells with satisfaction 

 as he contemplates a bed of well-grown roses at the zenith of 

 summer, and as he gazes with well-merited satisfaction at a clump 

 of perfect sweet peas which are a tribute to the assiduity with 

 which he has carried out the cultural rules laid down by experts. 

 He knows, however, as the mere onlooker does not, that his 

 success has only been achieved by the waging of an incessant 

 warfare against the multitude of insect and other enemies that 

 assail his fruit, his flowers and his vegetables. 



The gardener needs to keep close ward and watch over the 

 foliage of his plants at all seasons of the year, but he requires to be 

 specially vigilant in this respect as spring is merging into summer. 

 Probably, as frequently occurs in normal seasons, a period of 

 almost tropical weather hi the middle of May stirs into life and 

 activity myriads of foes to vegetation. At the first sign of the 

 oncoming of the devastating host the gardener must be ready 

 to attack and to exterminate it. For if once the investing army 

 be allowed to capture the citadel all may be lost. It may be too 

 late then to attempt to expel it ; irreparable damage will have 

 been done. 



And in order that the attack may be carried on with methodical 

 precision it is well to bear in mind that there are two great classes 

 of insect pests that it will be necessary to fight. These are pests 

 which hi one stage of development or another injure the plants 

 beneath the surface of the soil by attacking their roots, and those 

 that feed on the leaves and young sappy stems that emerge above 



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