38 HOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 



worms in her pots arid improve the plants. Very true. 

 But she forthwith puts a tablespoonful in each pot and 

 kills her plants. Another is told that liquid manure is 

 beneficial. She drenches plants with a strong, black 

 solution, and then stands aghast at seeing the leaves 

 turn brown and fall off. A third kills plants with am- 

 monia, and a fourth, hearing of the good effects of warm 

 water in winter, scalds her plants as heedlessly as if 

 she expected to have boiled callas and bouvardias for 

 dinner. I once committed my full share of such blun- 

 ders, but, having plodded my way to universal success, 

 hope that all our ' sisters ' may, in this enlightened age, 

 attain the same at less expense. I once top-dressed my 

 dahlias with fresh stable-manure (taking care not to let 

 it touch the stem), and it made them bloom beautifully, 

 keeping the ground moist and gradually enriching it. 

 Next year I applied hen-manure in the same way, and 

 it ' burnt up ' the plants. I would not recommend the 

 latter as a liquid manure. A weak solution of cow- 

 manure (color of weak coffee) is safer and better than 

 anything else. I have found that soot and wood-ashes 

 combined will cure eveiy ill that the royal rose is heir 

 to. If it is covered with insects, if the leaves look 

 brown and spotted, if it is doing badly in any way, just 

 sprinkle it well with water and dust it freely with soot 

 and ashes mixed in equal proportions. If the rose is 

 planted out, let it remain until the next rain washes it 

 off. If potted let it stay on for four or five days. 



