io6 



THE CULTURE OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



smoking" operation on, say, a Saturday, and repeat it on 

 the following Saturday, taking care to do the work very 

 thoroughly. When the plants are in the open the best 

 thing is to spray them once a week with a little paraffin 

 solution (" Homco "). The fly will not settle on any leaves 

 which smell of paraffin. 



Wireworms. 



Among the most deadly enemies of the chrysanthemum 

 is the wire worm, belonging to an order of beetles form- 



Wireworms. 



2 lineatus magnified ; 3 obscurus ; 4 natural length ; 5 spvitator ; 



6 magnified ; 7 and 8 larva natural size ; 9 magnified ; 



1 1 chrysalis ; a natural length. 



ing the family Elateridce, and commonly called " skip 

 jacks " or " click beetles." They are most destructive when 

 in the larva state, in which condition they remain four or 

 five years. It is only by constantly working the soil and 

 keeping it free from weeds or plants of every kind that 

 wireworms can be starved out. They abound in old 

 pastures where there is plenty of food to sustain them. In 

 attacking a chrysanthemum a wireworm will begin by eat- 

 ing into the middle of the plant and then it will eat its way 

 up through the stem to the top. Sometimes it eats a 

 passage out, but it often descends by the way it worked 



