278 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



pearance, easily distinguishable from the browning effects 

 of the Spider. When Carnations or Pinks get infested by 

 this insect, all remedies to dislodge it seem futile. We 

 have lost thousands of plants in a season by its attacks. 

 It seems, however, to infest light or sandy soil more than 

 heavy loam or clay, and seems, also, to be intermittent 

 in its attacks, often not being seen for three or four years 

 in succession, and again returning and destroying all in 

 its path. In our light sandy soil at lower Jersey City we 

 suffered from it, but for fifteen years, in our heavy, clayey 

 soil on Jersey City Heights, it has rarely been seen. It 

 generally attacks the plants in the open ground. We 

 have not had it since we began the use of the fir-tree oil, 

 and so have as yet had no opportunity to try it, but I am 

 inclined to think it might be equally useful here, as it 

 is against all other insects. 



Slugs or Snails. These are troublesome both in the 

 open ground and in the greenhouse. Salt is certain death 

 to them, even in smallest quantities, and when in the 

 open garden, a slight sprinkling of salt over the ground 

 is effectual; but the sprinkling, it must be remembered, 

 must be very slight, as salt, if put on (even as thick as 

 sand is usually strewn on a floor) will kill almost any kind 

 of vegetation. In our greenhouses the snails usually feed 

 at night, getting under the benches during the day. We 

 have found a most effectual remedy in strewing a thin 

 line of salt on edge of each bench; this makes a complete 

 "dead line" for the Slugs or Snails, for they cannot 

 cross it and live. Another plan is to slice up potatoes, 

 carrots, cabbage, or lettuce leaves, to feed on, for which 

 they will leave all other plants. Examine these traps 

 daily, and destroy the captives. 



Ants are the most troublesome of all insect pests on 

 lawns on sandy soils, and when these are on such large 

 areas, any remedy as yet known is almost futile to destroy 



