WINTER FLOWERING PLANTS. 65 



rooms, the easiest way is to dip the plants entirely in 

 the tobacco water, moving them up and down in the 

 liquid, to wash the insects off if they have a firm 

 hold. The "red spider" is another pest to winter 

 blooming plants, and wherever it is seen you may be cer- 

 tain that the atmosphere has been too dry, and very 

 likely the temperature too hot, as it is rarely found in 

 a cool, damp atmosphere. The treatment for this insect 

 in the greenhouse is copious syringings with water, but 

 where but a few plants are grown in the house, it is best 

 to go over the leaves, especially on the under side, with 

 a wet sponge. The red spider is so minute that it is 

 hardly distinguishable by the naked eye, but its destruc- 

 tive effects are quickly perceivable, as the leaves upon 

 which it works soon become brown, and if the leaves are 

 closely examined, particularly the underside, the minute 

 insect will be seen in great numbers. 



Another troublesome insect among plants that are 

 grown in a high temperature is the " mealy bug." The 

 insect is flat, of whitish brown, usually nestling at the 

 axils of the leaves, where it is covered with a white pow- 

 der, making it easily distinguishable ; this is one of the 

 most annoying of all insects that attack plants, as noth- 

 ing seems to kill it, unless the remedy is strong enough 

 to injure the plants ; so that rubbing it off with a small 

 brush is the only safe remedy that we would care to 

 recommend to amateurs. We find alcohol thrown on by 

 what is called an " atomizer," sold by druggists for be- 

 dewing with perfumes, to be very effective in destroy- 

 ing the "mealy bug," as the alcohol reaches to every 

 part of the plant, but we also find that some plants when 

 in very soft growth are injured by even this light appli- 

 cation of alcohol. Another pest, not an insect, but a 

 vegetable parasitic growth known as mildew, affects but 

 few plants in-doors except the rose, still as it is most in- 

 jurious to those, we give the most effectual remedy for 



