INSECT ENEMIES TO HOUSE PLANTS. 



GREEN-FLY 



MAGXIFIED. 



The cultivators of house plants have an army of enemies, small, to be sure, but numerous 

 and active. Fortunately, they are not very brave, but like to attack the weak, and soon become 

 discouraged when they meet with vigorous opposition. Indeed, they seem to know where they 

 have a chance of victory and seldom attack plants that are well watched and cared for. 



THE GREEN-FLY. 



The "green-fly"' every plant raiser knows, and he knows, too, to his sorrow, how destructive 

 it is if left to itself. The plants which this insect attacks are the softest and most succulent, 

 and at the ends of the young shoots, and the softest leaves. It sucks the 

 juices so as materially to injure the plant in a short time. The insects of this 

 kind (ApAis) increase with such wonderful rapidity that REACMVR has proved 

 that in five generations one aphis may be the progenitor of six thousand 

 millions, and there may be ten generations in a year. 



The insect inflicts the injury by means of a long rostrum or beak through 

 which it sucks out the juices the rostrum, when not in use, lies inflected 

 beneath the breast. Their bodies, at the hinder extremity, are furnished with two little promi- 

 nent or knotty openings, from which exude almost continually little drops of a sweet or honey- 

 like fluid. As they take in great quantities of sap, they would soon become gorged if they did 

 not get rid of the superabundant fluid. The leaves and bark of plants much infested by these 

 insects are often completely sprinkled over with drops of this sticky fluid, which, on drying, 

 becomes dark colored and greatly disfigures the foliage. 



Of all the means that have been employed for the destruction of this insect, that which 

 has proved most efficient and the one now almost universally practiced, is fumigation with 

 tobacco. Some plants, such as Heliotropes, Salvias, Lantanas, and some others with soft, downy 

 foliage, will not bear ordinary fumigations without injury to the leaves, and these plants, there- 

 fore, should not be subjected to it. Many plants in full flower, but especially Pelargoniums, will 

 throw off their expanded blooms after smoking, and therefore it is best to remove such plants before 

 fumigating. Care should be used also to have the foliage of all the plants dry, for if they are 

 wet or damp, the smoke will be apt to injure such as are of a soft texture. If the plants are in 

 a conservatory attached to the house, the time chosen for fumi- 

 gating should be a still evening when there is little or no wind 

 stirring, and the temperature of the house should be pretty well 

 up, as then the insects are more active and the smoke will more 

 easily affect them. A few chips or a little charcoal may be placed 

 upon a small furnace or a pan and ignited, and then a small quan- 

 tity of tobacco placed upon it the tobacco should have been 

 previously dampened so as to prevent its burning too rapidly or 

 blazing. 



When only a plant or two, or a small number of them are to be 

 treated, they can be fumigated under an inverted barrel or large 

 box in a back room or shed. Single plants may be fumigated by 

 making a bell of a newspaper, as shown in the engraving. The 

 smoke can be introduced by means of a tobacco-pipe. Fill the ; 

 bowl two-thirds full of quick-burning tobacco, and after lighting, j 

 place a piece of cotton cloth over the bowl, and blow the smoke' 

 through the stem, with the mouth. Instead of fumigation, a weak 

 solution of tobacco may sometimes be used quite as effectively ; this is often the more convenient 

 way for a few plants. Soak or steep some tobacco in water until the strength is extracted. The 

 strength of the water may be determined by dipping a leaf into it or letting it remain in it for a 

 short time if the leaf is browned or burned, or turns so when taken out of the water, the solu- 

 tion is too strong, and must be reduced by increasing the quantity of water. When the right 

 degree of strength is acquired, dip the whole plant into the water and afterwards syringe it off 

 with clean water. What we desire to impress most forcibly on the minds of our readers, and 



