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PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. HN 
ROOT WORMS. 
The enemies to plants are not those alone that are classified as foliage insects which 
feed upon stem, leaf and flower, but there are others that infest the soil and burrow among 
the roots. These are the most dangerous, as they often remain hidden until the mischief 
is done. They can, however, be detected by the watchful cultivator, through certain 
symptoms, such as stunted or retarded growth, or continued weakness of the plant without 
any apparent cause. A good general precaution is, while raking or sifting the soil, to cast 
aside grubs, chrysalides and all traces of insect life. 
Angleworm.—This worm, also known as the earth-worm, does far more damage by 
the displacing of the earth than from any actual injury. In tunneling through the soil, in 
search of nutriment, it swallows a portion of it, and this is brought to the surface and forms 
what is called a worm-cast. The best way to be rid of these is to turn the ball out on the 
hand, and where any are seen, seize them before they have a chance to withdraw, and pull 
gently until they come out entire. Another method is to pour some weak lime-water on 
the soil, when the worms will rush to the surface, where they can be destroyed. An 
application of a teaspoonful of liquid ammonia in a pint of water will also force them out. 
Milleped.—This is a small, glossy worm, not infrequently found in leaf-mold, decay- 
ing vegetation, and occasionally also upon the collar or crown of a diseased plant. It has 
a hardened or shelly covering composed of concentric rings, numerous fringe-like feet 
which move in an undulatory manner, and two delicate antenne, and when touched curls 
in a ring with the head inward. They are very fond of moisture, and by laying a piece 
of damp moss or a folded piece of damp paper or cloth on the soil, they will congregate 
under it so that they can be taken off in great numbers. Where there are many in a pot, 
they granulate the soil to such an extent that plants cease to thrive. Watering with lime- 
water is useful in destroying them, but a little soot mixed in the soil is still more effective. 
Cut-worm.—This is a black-gray slug which generally feeds on soft, young plants in 
early spring, and cuts them off about the collar, just beneath the surface of the ground. 
There is no remedy for this slug but to catch and kill it. To guard a plant from its 
approach, pieces of coarse cardboard, or of tin, bent into a cylinder, and embedded about 
an inch in the soil, encircling the stem of the plant, constitutes a serviceable protection. 
Another good way is to trap them under sods of grass turned downward; they delight to 
creep under such covers, where they may be picked up every other day or so, and killed. 
The cut-worm is the larve of a fly not unlike the mosquito in shape, but with a body 
about an inch in length, and having long, awkward looking legs. The females have 
thicker bodies than the males, and should be destroyed on sight. This pest is so numerous 
some years that it destroys whole acres of herbaceous plants. Once on the coast of Gal- 
way, in Ireland, the trees and shrubs in an area of many square miles dropped their leaves 
through its having eaten all the young roots; but the law of nature’s compensations was 
made manifest in the increased prosperity of hogs and chickens. 
Wire-worm.—This is a reptile mostly met with near sloughs or damp places. It 
lives upon the roots of plants, more especially of Wallflowers and Stocks, and is easily 
driven out of pots or from the roots by applying a weak dilution of agua ammonia —say 
a tablespoonful to a gallon of water — or by a slight admixture of soot in the soil. 
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