A YEAR'S GARDENING 



WOOD-LICE 



It seems to be a prevalent notion among jobbing gardeners and 



florists that wood-lice are not harmful to plants, but 



F^i"'** ^ * matter of fact they are terribly destructive to 



**^^ tender seedlings, especially in a frame, where they can 



secrete themselves against its sides. So early do they attack young 



flowers that it often appears as if the seed had failed 



Insidious ^q come up, for the minute stalks which have been 



^ deprived of their leaves by the wood-Uce are almost 



invisible. When a frame or pit is thus infected the wood-hce may 



. r i. J D generally be destroyed by pouring boiling water along 

 Infected Frame ^jjg ^-^j^^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^.^^^^ j^^^ -j ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^_ 



ance recourse must be had to trapping. In common with earwigs, 

 they love darkness and a dry, snug retreat, and a 

 Traps thumb-sized flower-pot, with a fresh slice of potato or 



apple as a bait, and filled up with cty moss, wiU prove an aUiuring 

 trap. Two or three of them should be placed in the frame or bed 

 where the wood-lice are found to be destructive, and the next 

 morning they will probably each contain a large number of the 

 insects, which may be destroyed by knocking the whole contents of 

 the pot into a pail of hot water. Of course the traps must be re-laid 

 from day to day until the clearance is complete, but the remedy is 

 unfailing if persevered with. The earlier in the morning the traps 

 are cleared the better will be the catch. 



HOT WATER AS AN INSECTICIDE 



In a recent number of Le Jardine it has been pointed out by Mons. 

 Boillet that the green-fly and all caterpillars cure instantly killed by 

 immersion in water heated to 45° C. (113° F.), while beetles, in spite 

 of the greater protection their bodies possess, perish in water of 50° C. 

 Plants, however, will survive immersion in water of 54° C, and 

 accordingly, when pot-plants are attacked by insects, an easy and 

 effective method of getting rid of the pests is to roll the pot in a cloth 

 (so as to prevent the soil from dropping out) and plimge the plant 

 for a few seconds into water 50° C. (122° F.) On fruit trees, also, 

 caterpillars and insects may be destroyed by applying hot water 

 either with a brush or with a S5T:inge. In using a syringe, however, 

 it should be borne in mind that hot water loses heat in passing through 

 the air, and its temperature, therefore, should be raised proportion- 

 ately — say, 5° for every 2 yards through which it heis to pass. 



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