89 



INSECTS. 



The Jphisy Louse, or Green Fly. Mr. Hogg says, 

 that if Auriculas, in the summer, are attacked by 

 this insect, they ought to be put into a frame and 

 smoked with tobacco ; for if they are suffered to con- 

 tinue so infested, it is impossible for them to thrive. 



This treatment is permissible if the insects appear 

 after the bloom is off; but they also come, occa- 

 sionally, whilst the flowers are in their beauty. The 

 only mode of clearing off the enemy is, then, to re- 

 move them, one by one, with a camel' s-hair brush, 

 and as the plants are small this is not an arduous 

 task. 



Slugs do great damage at night, chiefly by crawl- 

 ing over the leaves until they reach the blossoms, 

 of which they injure the eye materially, especially by 

 eating the thrums out. To prevent this, sprinkle the 

 tiles or slates, where the flowers stand blooming, with 

 two or three handsful of salt at night, just before you 

 cover up ; unslacked lime would answer the same 

 purpose. To these applications there are the objec- 

 tions, that they are unsightly, and that exposure to 

 the weather soon renders them ineflicacious. A per- 

 manent protection is, to wind some hair rope round 

 the legs of the stand, or around each pot, cutting 

 across the strands of the rope with a sharp knife, so 



