64 ■ orchtd-gkower's manual, 



by constantly looking after them, both by night and day, searching for 

 them in the evening by candle-light, and in the day-time by moving the 

 pots and baskets under which they harbour. They leave their hiding- 

 places in the evening, to seek after food, and it is then that they are 

 most easily caught. Chase's Beetle Poison, a phosphoric mixture sold 

 in boxes, is a capital thing to destroy them, if laid in different parts of 

 the house in the evening, say, two or three nights a week, and then 

 removed for a week, repeating the operation every other week until 

 they are destroyed. It should be placed on oyster-shells or pieces 

 of tile or slate, these being collected every morning and put down 

 again in the evening. There are also several other kinds of Beetle 

 powders, which should be placed upon the stages amongst the 

 plants. 



By using these preparations from time to time they may be kept 

 under. It is also a good plan to lay some damp moss as a decoy in the 

 hottest part of the house ; this should be looked over every two or three 

 days. We have killed many in this way. They may also be destroyed 

 by the use of a mixture of honey, lard, and arsenic, the latter in verv 

 small quantity, placing some of this on oyster shells, and laying them in 

 different parts of the house. Some growers mix the arsenic with tallow 

 and put it on a stick, which is stuck in the pots ; care must, however, 

 be taken that the mixture does not touch the leaves or bulbs of the 

 plants. Bell-glasses are also used for catching these pests, inverting 

 them so that they are level with the soil or moss, and then half filling 

 them with treacle made a little thinner by admixture with water ■ it 

 should be thick enough to stick and prevent them from climbing up the 

 glass ; the dead ones should be removed every day. 



Small Ants are another pest in the Orchid house, as they carry the 

 dirt to the flowers and thus spoil their appearance, as well as smother 

 the plants, and, if allowed to accumulate, they frequently cause great 

 injury to them. The best plan we know for catching these troublesome 

 little insects is to cut apples in halves, scoop out a portion of the inside, 

 and lay the pieces in different parts of the house, looking them over very 

 often. We have in this way destroyed hundreds in a very short time. 

 Treacle is also a good thing as a trap for these pests : place some in a, 

 bell-glass in the places which they frequent — they are fond of anything 

 sweet; they go to feed, get into the mixture, and -cannot get out again, 



