300 Red Spider. 



The last remedy which I have to note is sprinkhng the floors, walls, &c., 

 morning and evening, with four ounces of Peruvian guano dissolved in a 

 gallon of water, and especially at the time of shutting up the house. The 

 atmosphere is thus largely impregnated with ammonia, and in such red 

 spider cannot live. 



Prevention is, in all cases, better than cure ; and to this' end a dressing 

 applied in winter to trees that are liable to be attacked will be found 

 effectual, coating not only the stems and branches, but the walls. This 

 dressing may be made of soft-soap, at the rate of four ounces to ever}' 

 gallon of water, with enough of this to equal parts of flowers of sulphur and 

 fresh lime to bring them to the consistency of paint for the trees, and of 

 whitewash for the walls. The application should be repeated on the walls 

 and heated surface when the leaves attain their full size, and again when 

 the fruit commences to ripen. Its action depends on the fumes of the 

 sulphur being generated by artificial or sun heat ; and the soft-soap causes 

 the mixture to adhere : the lime, too, is a powerful remedy against spider, 

 and its more formidable rival, mildew. By thus dressing the stems and 

 branches, the eggs are destroyed. 



Lastly, daily sprinkling the floors and every available surface, from the 

 time that growth commences, with soot-water, — made by placing in a cask 

 a peck of dry soot, and pouring over it thirty gallons of water, — will 

 produce an atmosphere in which red spider will rarely appear. Soot-water, 

 with the addition of a peck of sheep's dung to thirty gallons of water, 

 is excellent for filling evaporation-troughs ; and so, too, is guano, at the 

 rate of four ounces to the gallon of water. For syringing, the soot-water 

 should be clear, and it will not injure the most delicate foliage ; but guano- 

 water for syringing should not only be clear, but strained, and not stronger 

 than one ounce to the gallon. Dressing, with soot, borders in which are 

 trees or plants liable to be attacked, is a very good preventive ; also 

 watering overhead with guano-water in the evening : but the best of all 

 preventives and remedies is to keep the plants moist, to give plent}' of 

 air, and to maintain as cool an atmosphere as is consistent with their 



healthy development. 



G. Abbey, m " Cottage Gardener?'' 



