Gardening for Amateurs 



1113 



manurial constituents of the soil which 

 are most liable to be lost during the 

 season. 



Earthworms. Since Darwin's famous in- 

 vestigations 011 earthworms the agriculturist 

 has come to regard them as being useful and 

 welcome rather than otherwise ; the hor- 

 ticulturist may be doubtful on this point, 

 for they often appear to be distinctly injuri- 

 ous. The benefits derived from their presence 

 are mainly physical ; the burrows admit air 

 and rain to the soil ; they allow bad vapours 

 from fermenting manure to escape : they 

 open up the soil and make it friable, thus 

 allowing free root action ; and by passing 

 soil through their bodies they mix the vari- 

 ous strata and so act as excellent cultivators. 

 They are most often found and most wel- 

 come in soil rich in humus. The unsightli- 

 ness of the lawn or tennis ground may, how- 

 ever, lead us to consider them as pests, and 

 bad ones. too. Nevertheless, they do much 

 good to the ground, and are not altogether 

 unwelcome unless present in too large num- 

 bers. Lime water is the usual remedy, but 

 I prefer a spreading of good sharp sand 

 making sure that it is sharp once a year 

 as being more beneficial ; after application 

 the worms are prevented from working near 

 the surface, yet their presence in the sub- 

 soil brings many benefits. In the garden 

 earthworms are rather to be encouraged 

 than despised. 



The earthworms feed on vegetable matter 

 in the soil, the " castings " consisting of 

 indigestible fine soil absorbed with it. Some- 

 times they do harm to seedlings by disturb- 

 ing the roots or even feeding on them, but 

 if the soil is made firm they will depart. 

 In pots the worm works into the drainage 

 system and clogs this with the fine earth of 

 its castings. Generally when a plant droops, 

 turns sickly and yellow, worms are to blame ; 

 they must be removed and the drainage 

 cleared before the plants will recover. The 

 usual methods of getting rid of them are by 

 means of mustard and water, lime water, or 

 a long wire, but I recently saw a writer ad- 

 vocating the more humanitarian method of 

 rapping on the pot with a key and catching 

 the worm as he comes out to see what all 

 the row is about. When placing pots on the 

 ground anywhere it is well to spread first a 



thin layer of sharp gritty ashes, a mixture 

 which keeps off earthworms. 



Leaf-mining Maggots. Some of the leaf- 

 mining maggots (of which there are many 

 kinds) are among the most troublesome 

 pests the gardener has to deal with. In the 

 following notes reference is made to those 

 commonly experienced, and remedies and 

 preventive measures are described. 



Holly-leaf Fly. The larvae mine in the 

 green cellular tissue of the leaf, and two or 

 three are to be found in a leaf, each in its 

 own mine. The pupae remain in the mine 

 over winter, and the flies appear in May. 

 Spraying with paraffin emulsion at that time 

 has been suggested to keep the flies away. 



Marguerite Fly and Chrysanthemum Flrj. 

 There is much confusion as to the identity 

 of the species that infest the leaves of the 

 Marguerite, Cineraria, and Chrysanthemum, 

 but there is no question of their destructive 

 work. The Marguerite Fly may be taken as 

 the type. It carries on its depredations the 

 year round, and is scarcely less active in 

 winter than in summer, there being several 

 broods in a season. The fly places its eggs 

 singly upon the upper side of the leaves. 

 Many eggs are laid by one female. The eggs 

 hatch in about a week, and the larvae from 

 them bury themselves at once in the leaf 

 tissues and form mines within them. In 

 about a fortnight the larvae changes to a 

 pupa, either remaining in the leaf or falling 

 to the ground. The fly emerges in the course 

 of a few days, and there are several broods 

 or generations in the course of the summer, 

 the last generation outdoors (common on 

 many wild plants) remaining in pieces of leaf 

 or earth throughout the winter. In the case 

 of the Marguerite fly breeding goes on, as 

 before stated, throughout the year. 



On a small scale there is nothing like hand 

 picking. The mining work of the larvae is 

 readily seen, and then there is only one 

 course, namely, to pinch the maggots be- 

 tween the thumb and finger and crush them, 

 or to pinch off the portion of the leaf affected 

 and destroy it by fire. If this fails, it is 

 owing to the work not being done thoroughly 

 or the leaves not being destroyed afterwards. 

 Prevention is better than cure, and is effected 

 by spraying once a fortnight with paraffin 

 emulsion made as follows : Dissolve 1 quart 



