m 



PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



ROOT WORMS. 



The enemies to plants are not those alone that are classified as foliage insects which 

 feed upon stem, leaf and flower, but there are others that infest the soil and burrow among 

 the roots. These are the most dangerous, as they often remain hidden until the mischief 

 is done. They can, however, be detected by the watchful cultivator, through certain 

 symptoms, such as stunted or retarded growth, or continued weakness of the plant without 

 any apparent cause. A good general precaution is, while raking or sifting the soil, to cast 

 aside grubs, chrysalides and all traces of insect life. 



Angleworm. — This worm, also known as the earth-worm, does far more damage by 

 the displacing of the earth than from any actual injury. In tunneling through the soil, in 

 search of iiutriinent, it swallows a portion of it, and this is brought to the surface and forms 

 what is called a worm-cast. The best way to be rid of these is to turn the ball out on the 

 hand, and where any are seen, seize them before they have a chance to withdraw, and pull 

 gently until they come out entire. Another method is to pour some weak lime-water on 

 the soil, when the worms will rush to the surface, where they can be destroyed. An 

 application of a teaspoonful of liquid ammonia in a pint of water will also force them out. 



Milleped. — This is a small, glossy worm, not infrequently found in leaf-mold, decay- 

 ing vegetation, and occasionally also upon the collar or crown of a diseased plant. It has 

 a hardened or shelly covering composed of concentric rings, numerous fringe-like feet 

 which move in an undulatory manner, and two delicate antennje, and when touched curls 

 in a ring with the head inward. They are very fond of moisture, and by laying a piece 

 of damp moss or a folded piece of damp paper or cloth on the soil, they will congregate 

 under it so that they can be taken off in great numbers. Where there are many in a pot, 

 they granulate the soil to such an extent that plants cease to thrive. Watering with lime- 

 water is useful in destroying them, but a little soot mixed in the soil is still more effective. 



Cut-worm. — This is a black-gray slug which generally feeds on soft, young plants in 

 early spring, and cuts them off about the collar, just beneath the surface of the ground. 

 There is no remedy for this slug but to catch and kill it. To guard a plant from its 

 approach, pieces of coarse cardboard, or of tin, bent into a cylinder, and embedded aliout 

 an inch in the soil, encircling the stem of the plant, constitutes a serviceable protection. 

 Another good way is to trap them under sods of grass turned downward; they delight to 

 creep under such covers, where they may be picked up every other day or so, and killed. 

 The cut-worm is the larvre of a fly not unlike the mosquito in shape, but with a body 

 about an inch in length, and having long, awkward looking legs. The females have 

 thicker bodies than the males, and should be destroyed on sight. This pest is so numerous 

 some years that it destroys whole acres of herbaceous plants. Once on the coast of Gal- 

 way, in Ireland, the trees and shrubs in an area of many square miles dropped their leaves 

 through its having eaten all the young roots; but the law of nature's compensations was 

 made manifest in the increased prosperity of hogs and chickens. 



Wire-worm. — This is a reptile mostly met with near sloughs or damp places. It 

 lives upon the roots of plants, more especially of Wallflowers and Stocks, and is easily 

 driven out of pots or from the roots by applying a weak dilution of aqua ammojiia: — say 

 a tablcspoonful to a gallon of water — or by a slight admixture of soot in the soil. 



34' 



