Red Spider. 299 



syringe, so as to thoroughly wet every leaf on both sides. Three applica- 

 tions, on alternate evenings, will be sufficient to destroy a whole generation 

 of red spider. The vine, melon, and cucumber are the only plants which 

 I have found injured by it ; for it stains the fruit of the first, and disfigures 

 the foliage of the other two. 



Should it not be desirable to syringe, or if plants are attacked to which 

 the soap-solution would be injurious, a good remedy is to make the floors, 

 walls, &c., wet by syringing them without wetting the foliage of the plants 

 or trees, — this should be done on shutting up the house, — half filling 

 pots that will hold a peck and a half with fresh unslacked lime, and 

 then filling up with water, and scattering on this one ounce of sulphur 

 vivum. Two pots will be sufficient for a house thirty feet long, eighteen 

 feet wide, and of an average height ; but, if high, three will be necessary. 

 The heat of the lime will cause rapid evaporation, and the fumes of the 

 sulphur are carried along with the water ; and, unless sulphur be volatil- 

 ized, it is worse than useless as a destroyer of red spider. The plants 

 should be syringed in the morning ; but in the case of grapes coloring, 

 fruit ripening, or plants being in flower, doing so would prove disastrous. 

 An application of this kind should be made once a week, or twice if the 

 attack is severe. This remedy, it should be remembered, must not be used 

 until the leaves have attained their full size, and become somewhat firm ; 

 otherwise they will be disfigured. It is more effectual when a good 

 syringing follows, as the insects, if not stifled, are so sick as to be easily 

 washed off". 



Another method in which it is not absolutely necessary to syringe the 

 plants consists in making the hot-water pipes so hot, that the hand, when 

 placed on them, cannot bear the heat more than a minute, and, after 

 closing the house, to coat them with sulphur brought to the consistency 

 of paint, with water in which soft-soap has been dissolved at the rate of 

 four ounces to the gallon. The paint thus formed should be applied from 

 end to end of the pipes or flues, and be lightly syringed until the house is 

 full of steam ; and, unless the fumes of the sulphur are strong enough to 

 drive the operator out of the house, they will not destroy red spider. This 

 remedy, like the preceding, must not be employed unless the foliage is 

 somewhat mature, as in the case of the fruit approaching maturity, or 

 becoming ripe. Two applications will, in most cases, prove effectual. 



