AN ISLAND GARDEN 67 



ing-glories, and even Nasturtiums and Cornflow- 

 ers, so thickly that the plant is not to be seen at 

 all for them ; they are like a brown glove over 

 every leaf, and they suck every drop of sap out of 

 the plant, leaving it perfectly white. They are 

 fatal on the Sweet Peas, of which they are espe- 

 cially fond. No poison known to me has the 

 slightest effect on them ; nothing but water turned 

 on with the hose in floods disturbs them. This 

 washes them away for the time being. It has to 

 be repeated, however, many times a day, for they 

 recover from their drenching and return to their 

 work of devastation with renewed vigor. Fortu- 

 nately these do not, like the slugs, last forever; 

 they are gone in less than six weeks ; but they 

 keep me busy indeed while they stay. 



I am obliged to spend a good deal of time just 

 now hunting and destroying different bugs and 

 worms and so forth. The blue-green aphis ap- 

 pears on certain precious Honeysuckle buds, and 

 must be vigorously syringed with fir-tree oil before 

 he gets a foothold and spreads his hideous legions 

 everywhere. Also the lively worm that ties the 

 Rose leaves together and gobbles them up and 

 hides in a web within them, that I may find and 

 crush him; and the white thrip which calls for 

 hellebore, on the under side of them, and many 

 more, must be attended to before they wax strong 

 and bold in their villainy and defy me. A curious 

 plague, if I may call it so, has come upon the little 

 garden, in the shape of the delicious edible mush- 

 rooms, Coprinus Comatus, which come up all over 

 the place and with slow strength heave the 



