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§ 
iN PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. ‘ 
Thrips.—These are small, spotted flies related to the aphéde, and found on the backs 
of the leaves, though they will attach themselves to any portion of a neglected or unhealthy 
plant. They are not quite so easily got rid of as the green-fly, but washing the plant in 
tobacco-water, and afterward in clean water, will drive them off. The best remedy is a 
solution of Gishurst’s Compound, a kind of soap sold by first-class seedsmen. This will 
not only destroy these insects, but most others. The scaly bugs cannot withstand it, and - 
angleworms will die if it drops upon them. It also acts as a stimulant to plants, and is 
not enough known to amateurs in this country. 
Red Spider, so called, known by its classic name as Acarus, is an insidious enemy to 
plants. It is a minute insect, but capable of producing considerable destruction, as it 
feeds on the most delicate parts of the leaves, causing them to soon perish. It is about 
the size of the eye of a fine cambric needle. The body is usually red, though sometimes 
brown. They congregate on the under sides of the leaves in great numbers, where they 
feed like a herd of cattle on a broad plain. 
When a plant is suspected of being infested, or if the leaves perish and no other cause 
is known, a leaf may be turned over on the finger, and held so until the warmth passes 
through it, when, if there are any, they will be seen like mere specks of dust beginning 
.to show powers of locomotion. The fine webs created by this small, insignificant 
creature, clog and impair the functions of the foliage, which are really the lungs 
of the plant. Dryness of the atmosphere is very favorable to the existence of this 
insect, and, as it has a repugnance to water, sprinkling, syringing or pinning wet cloths or 
papers around individual plants at night, is the remedy. A very good preventive is to 
keep a pan of water on the stove in winter, as it gives off a vapor to the atmosphere. A 
little flour of sulphur sprinkled on a heated brick or flat-iron, placed where the fumes can 
rise up among the leaves of the plants, is also an excellent remedy. 
Mealy Bug.—This is an entirely innocent looking insect, but yet at times exceedingly 
troublesome where plants are kept at a high temperature, and is consequently found more 
frequently in a hothouse, from whence it is many times transferred to the greenhouse. 
It is a small, oval insect about an eighth of an inch in length, with a slightly rounded 
back that is covered over with a short, white plush; the body underneath is brownish in 
color, and from the sides articulate several tiny legs. It more often rests at the axils of 
the leaves, yet many times underneath them. Where they accumulate to a great extent, 
whale-oil soapsuds is efficacious, or they can be brushed off with a small brush. 
We have never had them to any great extent, and our method is to lift them off with 
a needle, as bruising them on the plant is said to be injurious on account of the juice that 
escapes. The eggs are deposited in little, white, webby knots, and left by the parent on 
various parts of the plant. Under the microscope, when torn asunder with two pins or 
needles, so as not to crush them, there are revealed several brown eggs—some half a 
dozen, or less. 
Coceus.—There are several kinds of insects known under this Latin name, that in our 
vernacular are called scales, being in color either brown or white. They are a rounded 
oval, their encasement being a glossy, tough skin or shell. They adhere closely to the 
leaves or stem on which they feed, and are not easy to dislodge. As far as our own expe- 
rience and observation go, we find the young to be migratory, but probably not for any i 
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