PESTS AND DISEASES. 155 



the plant. Prevention, therefore, is better than cure. 

 We will now proceed to give a brief description of each 

 pest, dividing them into two sections, insect and animal 

 pests, and fungoid diseases. 



I. INSECT AND ANIMAL PESTS. 



Aphides. These, popularly known as "greenfly," 

 and of which there is said to be fully 200 species, are small 

 pale green insects, furnished with a beak-like mouth, with 

 which they pierce the epidermis or skin of the leaf, and 

 suck out the sap from the cells, thus injuring the tissues 

 and causing the foliage to be deformed. They are very 

 partial to the tips of the shoots of Lilium Harrisi grown 

 under glass, and, if not immediately eradicated, will pre- 

 vent the formation of flowers. 



EEMBDIES. Syringing with an insecticide, directly they 

 are seen, is the best remedy. 



Ants. Ants occasionally prove troublesome in beds, 

 borders, and rockeries, by tunnelling beneath the surface, 

 throwing up mounds of soil, and disturbing bulbs and 

 tubers. In the case of small and choice bulbs much in- 

 jury is likely to accrue, owing to their presence. They 

 also run about the leaves of lilies infested with greenfly 

 in search of the honeydew deposited by the latter; and 

 will, in fact, carry these insects about to fresh positions 

 to encourage them to produce the aforesaid secretion. 

 Darwin, indeed, called the greenfly the milch cow of the 

 ant. 



REMEDIES. The simplest way of getting rid of ants in 

 the soil is by 'asphyxiation viz., making holes six inches 

 deep and a few inches apart in their nests, dropping in 

 a large pinch of a soil fumigant, and then closing the 

 holes firmly with soil. The fumes from this will permeate 

 the soil and suffocate the ants. 



