STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59 



as sure death for the green fly. They will only look up and laugh 

 at you in return for such treatment. 



Are you troubled with the red spider ? This only tells you that 

 you have too much heat and too little moisture. Water is now 

 the sure remedy. Take the plant to the sink — if you cannot do it 

 where it grows — lay it upon one side, hold the syringe over the 

 pot and with cool water thoroughly syringe the underside of the 

 leaves, turning the plant over in the meantime that no leaf may 

 escape, and the work is done. In the moist atmosphere of the 

 greeu-house the insects are seldom seen, while the ravages of 

 green fly are ruinous without frequent fumigation with tobacco. 



For a general collection of house plants, let the thermometer 

 range from 45° to 65° ; 40° by night and 50° by day would be even 

 better. If by any mishap your plants should all get frozen, do 

 not throw them away as lost, but take a whole day to bring the 

 room back again to the accustomed temperature, for if this is done 

 in a few minutes, or even in two or three hours, the chances are 

 that your plants are nearly ruined, if not killed outright. It is not 

 fire heat or sunlight that you now need, but shade, and cool water 

 at once from the well. Put some thick paper over the top of the 

 pots, to prevent the earth from becoming too much saturated with 

 water about the roots, and then with sprinkler apply the water so 

 long as any ice can be seen about the plant. With this treatment, 

 in the absence of fire heat and sun, your plants, and blossoms, 

 too, are nearly or quite all safe. 



During the past month, the plants in both of our green-houses 

 were nearly all frozen. The day and evening previous were mild 

 and warm, and little or no fire heat was used ; but during the night 

 there came a sudden change, which gave the writer plenty of busi- 

 ness for the next day. The cactuses and geraniums all coated 

 with ice, as I applied the water from the force-pump. A hundred 

 or more callas, with their beautiful foliage lying like hounds' ears 

 over the sides of the pots, (one of which has to-day a bud not yet 

 fully developed standing upwards of four feet above the top of 

 the pot), came out unharmed. Indeed, I am half inclined to think 

 that the cold bath it received only served to urge it onward and 

 upward. 



Let your plants show that they are thirsty before you give water, 

 and then water till the drainage shows that they are thoroughly 

 wet. This is better than frequent and slight applications. We 

 give hot water daily to calla lilies coming into blossom, and always 



