310 YAED AND GAEDEN 



bery borders free from weeds and the hardy 

 borders and flower-beds in a high state of culti- 

 vation. Eemove dead leaves, twigs and limbs 

 and, if they appear to have perished from some 

 abnormal cause, burn them. Be cautious in 

 what you deposit on the compost bed for, very 

 often, disease is reintroduced into the garden 

 by using decayed vegetable matter that is in- 

 fested with disease or in which are deposited 

 the eggs of destructive insects. In many in- 

 stances, when an entire plant or shrub is badly 

 attacked, it is best to remove the stricken plant 

 at once and burn it without delay. 



METHODS OF DESTROYING INSECTS 



With the origin, history and classification of 

 the various destructive insects, the gardener 

 is not greatly concerned. It is more to his ad- 

 vantage to know their habits, for it is through 

 a knowledge of these that he is enabled to com- 

 bat them. He must know, first of all, whether 

 the insect which has invaded his garden or his 

 orchard is a biting or a sucking insect. If the 

 former, direct poisons, such as the arsenicals, 

 are employed, for insects of this class actually 

 masticate and swallow some portion of the solid 

 substance of the plant, as the wood, bark, 



