46 OPERATIONS OF GARDENING. PART I. 



plants and laying their eggs. There is no other way in which I 

 can conceive that the bottles could act. 



GRUBS. These are for the most part the larvae of beetles. 

 The ravage they commit is almost entirely confined to the roots 

 of potted plants, in eating away the fibrous parts, and thus 

 ultimately causing the plants to perish. They are generally 

 introduced in the cow-manure, employed when the plants are 

 potted. All that is required to keep clear of them is to examine 

 the manure carefully before using it, picking out whatever 

 grubs are found, and destroying them. 



COCKROACHES. I have never, that I am aware of, had any 

 injury done to my garden by these insects ; but I have seen it 

 stated that they " often spoil a young shoot or flower-stem of an 

 Orchid in a single night," and that the following is a successful 

 plan for extirpating them : " Get some short twigs, a few inches 

 long, and divested of their bark ; put one end into the soil, and 

 cover the other with a composition of spermaceti and arsenic, 

 well mixed. They will last for months." 



THE KED BEETLE. This most destructive pest is about the 

 size of a lady-bird, but narrower in form. The ravage it 

 commits is almost entirely confined to young plants of Melon, 

 Cucumber, and Squash, eating up the fresh green leaves as soon 

 as they are produced, thus effectually stopping the growth of 

 the plants. It is, however, principally plants that have been 

 raised from English or American seed that suffer, those from 

 country seed taking little harm from its attacks. 



The usual method adopted to preserve the plants is to cover 

 the leaves with wood-ashes. But by this means the leaves, as 

 must be obvious, having their pores stopped up, are unable to 

 perform the functions for which alone they are of any use to 

 the plant, and might almost as well have been left alone to be 

 eaten by the beetles. 



An old beer-chest, with the top and bottom knocked out and 

 a piece of cheap green mosquito-curtain leno fastened over 

 it, appears to me as simple an expedient and as thoroughly 

 an effectual one as could be employed for covering the plants 

 with, to protect them from this insect. When the plants attain 

 a certain age, the beetle ceases to attack them. 



WORMS. These are amongst the greatest nuisances to potted 

 plants that gardeners are troubled with. The better the soil 



