THE CANADIAN IIOllTICTJLTUFJST. 73 



top of tlie plant, and brush the insects off w^th a soft hair brush. 

 When done, remove the paper with the insects on and destroy them. 

 It is always well to remove some of the old soil, and put fresh on the 

 surface. Another plan is to procure a close box with a lid (if not tight 

 make it so by pasting paper over the cracks). Make a hole in the 

 side to insert a tube, and puff tobacco smoke into the box until it is 

 full. Xow stop the hole and let the plants stand for an hour or more. 

 Then take them out and shake them well, removing the soil from the 

 surface of the pots as before directed. This will have to be done in a 

 warm place, (a cellar will do,) so that the smoke will not get through 

 the house. 



The red spider is not so well known; being very minute it is not 

 easily detected until much damage is done. If you see small yellow 

 spots on the leaves of the plants, and if they are getting dry and burnt 

 looking, turn the underside of the leaf up and you will see small red 

 dusty specks. Take a brush or sponge and wash with warm water, as 

 he does not like moisture. In a greenhouse, where the place is kept 

 moist, he never appears. Thrip and scale are not found very often on 

 house plants, neither is mealy-bug. Cleanliness will mostly prevent 

 all these. 



It may seem to some to be a great deal of trouble to follow aU 

 these instructions, yet I find people every day that would do twice as 

 much to see their plants prosper. Gishurst Compound, Fowler^s 

 Insecticide, hellebore powder, &c., are used with much effect for the 

 destruction of insects, but I prefer frequent washing to any of them, 

 as it not only destroys the insects but gives fresh life to the plants. 



I shall at some future time treat of plants best adapted to house 

 culture, and their treatment for winter flowers. 



QUESTION DRAWEE. 



DEAD BARK. 



Last spring some of my trees had dead patches of bark on them, "what 

 could be the cause ? Would lack of drainage cause it ? 



Anything that would render the tree unhealthy would be the 

 remote cause, and nothing will make an apple tree unhealthy more 

 surely than insufficient drainage. 



