124 MISCELLANEOUS EXHIBITION PLANTS. 



and then syringing alternately into the pail and on to the 

 plant requiring to be cleaned. The higher the temperature 

 at which the soap, water, and pai-affin are mixed the better 

 they amalgamate ; hence they should be mixed at a tempera- 

 ture as near as possible to the boiling-point. 



A solution of one part of soft soap to eight parts of water 

 '•takes" paraffin freely at or near the boiling-point, and 

 forms the basis of the best insecticide. When properly used, 

 paraffin is the best material for cleaning plants from all dirt 

 and insect pests at an infinitesimal cost. It should, however, 

 be always used with caution, aud never applied recklessly or 

 indiscriminately to all plants alike. It should not be used on 

 delicate ferns or on tender young growths, as it is liable to 

 injure them even with the most careful manipulation j but on 

 such smooth-leaved and robust plants as Crotons, Dracsenas, 

 Gardenias, Palms, Stephanotis, and such like, which are so 

 liable to the attacks of mealy-bug and scale, it may be applied 

 with perfect freedom and with the best results. Repeated 

 applications, at a strength of one gill of paraffin in the gallon 

 of liquid, will eradicate the most inveterate of plant insect 

 pests. In applying it to Azaleas and all downy-leaved plants, 

 a very weak solution must be used, about a quarter of a 

 gill of paraffin to the gallon, repeating the application till the 

 plants are clean. 



Most kinds of jjlants are best as well as more easily moved 

 to and from an exhibition, when firmly potted in pots of a 

 comparatively small size. A proper application of artificial 

 and liquid manures will gi'ow them to perfection in such pots, 

 in which, as a rule, plants flower more profusely, and the 

 foliage assumes a richer and deeper colour and more beautiful 

 tints. 



Soil, and all the materials for potting, should always be got 

 ready some time before they are required for use, and kept 

 stored in separate bunks in the potting-house, so that they 

 maj' be at hand when wanted, and in the best mellow and 

 warm condition. 



