134 Milady's House Plants 



destroy of all the smaller insects. The red creatures 

 are too small to be seen by the naked eye save as 

 minute moving specks on the leaves, but when suffi- 

 cient numbers get together the red mass is quite ap- 

 parent. The minute larvae, when hatched imme- 

 diately, cover themselves with a fine web which 

 thoroughly protects them and allows them to pursue 

 their depredations undisturbed; it is this web, in 

 fact, which prevents the effective use of insecticides. 

 A fine cutting spray of plain water from the hose will 

 clean them off and is really the only thing to do when 

 the plant is badly infested. 



Scale Insects 



Are well known pests on house plants, being 

 conspicuous in size and color and always remaining 

 in the spot chosen. The scale is a protecting roof 

 covering the female while she is producing her eggs or 

 young qnes, some species being viviparous, i. e., pro- 

 ducing their young alive. By the time the young 

 ones are ready to crawl out from under the scale the 

 mother insect has died. The males of many species 

 are never seen except under special culture. They are 

 minute, two-winged flies and live only a day or two. 

 The scales may be washed off by hand with a sponge 

 and soap suds if only a few appear; if such plants as 

 palms or ficus are badly infested with them they 

 should be soaked for two or three hours with the soap 

 spray and then laid on their sides (as shown in the 

 illustration, page 135) and forcefully sprayed with 

 a stream from a hose. 



