HENDERSON'S. HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



371 



INS 



known, from its white, inealy-like appear- 

 ance, belongs to the same family as the 

 Cochineal insect, (Coccu* Cadi,) from 

 which the Cochineal dye is obtained. 

 , It is one of the most troublesome of all 

 insects to dislodge. The only certain rem- 

 edy we have ever been able to get to kill 

 Mealy Bug without injury to the leaves, 

 is a mixture known as "Cole's Insect De- 

 stroyer," the ingredients of which we do 

 not know, as the inventor so far has been 

 able to keep his secret. This, put on 

 with a barber's atomizer, never fails to 

 destroy them. The great objection to 

 this remedy is its price, which is entirely 

 too high to admit of its being used on a 

 large scale. The common method to 

 get rid of Mealy Bug is to brush it off 

 the leaves with a brush, made soft 

 enough not to scratch the leaves ci- 

 sterns. 



Ants. These are sometimes very de- 

 structive to vegetation, particularly in 

 dry, sandy soils. We have repeatedly 

 suffered serious losses from them, both in 

 our green-houses and out of doors. The ! 

 most efficacious remedy we have tried is 

 to saturate pieces of sponge with sugar, i 

 or to place fresh bones around their | 

 haunts; they will leave everything else to 

 feed on these, and when they are thus 

 trapped, can be destroyed by dipping in j 

 hot water or burning. 



Thrips (Tettigonia) vary in color, be- ! 

 ing light green, brown, and black. It 

 is much more active in its movements 

 than the Green Fly, and more difficult 

 to destroy, and when it once gets a foot- 

 hold is one of the most destructive ene- 

 mies to the grapery or green-house. To- 

 bacco smoke that will destroy the Aphis, 

 has but little effect on Thrips; bufe in our 

 experiments in destroying insects in the 



winter of 1881 in our green-houses, -we 

 found that Tobacco stems boiled, so that 

 the liquid from them was as dark as 

 strong coffee or porter, was certain 

 death to the Thrips. * We had a large 

 house of Dracaenas and other tropic- 

 al plants badly affected by Thrips; we 

 syringed the plants freely with the Tobac- 

 co water for ten or twelve days with the 

 most satisfactory results, as at the end of 

 that time not an insect was to be seen, 

 and the plants at once began to grow 

 with unwonted vigor. 



The Red Spider (Acarus tellarius) is 

 another well-known pest to the green- 

 house, and, like the Thrips, seems per- 

 fectly indifferent to the fumes of To- 

 bacco. It is one of the most insidious 

 of all our insect enemies, as it works 

 nearly always on the under part of the 

 leaves, and often has got a firm foothold 

 before its presence has been discovered. 

 The experienced gardener knows that 

 the main cause of Bed Spider is a dry, 

 hot atmosphere, as it is never present to 

 injure in a moist atmosphere and low 

 temperature. So the preventive is at 

 all times an atmosphere in the green- 

 house that will prevent the attacks of the 

 Red Spider, which at the same time is 

 most congenial to the health of the plants, 

 for it is certain that if the Eed Spider is 

 present in force, then the atmosphere 

 has been too dry for the well-being of 

 the plants. To avoid this in private 

 green-houses, where the walks cannot be 

 splashed with water, evaporating pans 

 should be placed on the pipes, or any 

 other method that may suggest itself to 

 increase the moisture of the atmosphere. 

 Last season we filled the space between 

 the rows of pipe with Sphagnum Moss, 

 from which, when wet, a steady moisture 



