58 WINTER GREENERIES AT HOME. 



the smoking process is out of the question, though it 

 might be used somewhere outside under an inverted 

 barrel. But for the few plants in your keeping, you may 

 better depend upon the prompt and thorough use of a 

 sponge or brush with soap and water. In the case of 

 Eed Spiders, drowning will perhaps be more convenient. 

 Invert the pot over the edge of a well filled tub, and keep 

 the stems of the plant entirely submerged for an hour, 

 repeating the operation after a day or two, if necessary. 

 A very forcible application of water from a syringe or a 

 hydrant would of course be more effectual. My own 

 plants thus have a share in the benefits of the City water- 

 works. Such as are movable, I take occasionally to the 

 bath-tub, and give them the spray from a hose attached 

 to the hydrant, and furnished with a rose nozzle. This 

 spray may be made a gentle shower, or a miniature tempest 

 that sweeps away every vestige of insect life. In warm 

 spring weather, when the Red Spiders are most trouble- 

 some, an outside hydrant or a gardener's syringe may be 

 used with the same effect. On the whole, the most 

 healthy plants are the least likely to be infested with 

 parasites of any kind another reason for keeping them 

 healthy. 



2. Inanimate dust is less injurious than the insects, 

 but nevertheless you will insist upon its removal. Here 

 again the sponge comes into requisition, and it should be 

 applied to the lower as well as the upper side of the 

 leaves, keeping them thoroughly clean. Sometimes it 

 will be sufficient to "raise the wind " and blow off the 

 dust, or to use the feather-end of a quill as a brush. If 

 your plants are kept in a "garden-box," such as I have 

 referred to heretofore, take a small syringe or a rose- 

 sprinkler and give them occasionally a brisk little shower 

 a natural method, you know, of removing dust. 



3. Worms in the soil are not likely to cause you much 

 trouble. Angle-worms, which only disturb the roots, 



