72 



THE GAKDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



larvae are active like the adults, but wingless. 

 The American Cockroach is generally more 

 common in hothouses than the common one, 

 and is much more destructive to the flowers 

 and scapes of Orchids, as well as to the flowers 

 and leaves of stove-plants generally at all 

 seasons of the year. 



Remedies. — Cement all holes and crevices in 

 walls, as well as lessen the number of hiding- 

 places wherever possible in the plant-houses. 

 Poisoning is a sure and effective remedy, and 

 may be effected by placing bits of phosphorus 

 paste on pieces of slate, tile, or broken pots, 

 and laying the same in their runs about the 

 houses. This may be done before leaving off 

 work at night, then the pieces collected in the 

 morning and stored in a safe place out of the 

 way till night. Boiled potatoes, sweetened 

 dough, or roasted apples poisoned with arsenic 

 may be used instead, except in or near fruit- 

 houses, where arsenic would be dangerous if 

 carried about by the insects. Beetle -traps 

 baited with something sweet might be employed 

 in such cases. Deep jars sunk in the ground 

 and partly filled with much -diluted strong- 

 smelling molasses will betray and drown hun- 

 dreds of them. 



Currant Gall Mite (Phytqptus Pubis).— The 

 body of this mite is oblong, slightly narrowed to 

 a point at the tail end, which terminates in a 

 pair of bristles. It is very sluggish, dirty-white, 

 furnished with four short legs near the head, 

 and a short beak with which it sucks the juices 

 of the leaves of the Black Currant while still in 

 bud. As the buds of the Currant swell in 

 autumn and all through the winter and spring, 

 those that are affected with the mite may be 

 recognized by their large size and globular 

 shape. Mites may be found in hundreds in 

 such buds, and to the naked eye appear like 

 white dust. They remove to the new buds 

 as they develop towards the end of the sea- 

 son. 



Remedies. — Some varieties, and certainly 

 some bushes of Black Currant, get more affected 

 than others even on the same piece of ground. 

 When the swollen buds are few, they should be 

 picked off and burnt; badly-affected branches 

 may be cut off, or the bush itself may be 

 grubbed up and burnt. Sometimes it is neces- 

 sary to grub up a whole plantation and make a 

 new one at some distance off. Clean culture 

 and the avoidance of crowding should at all 

 times be observed, and the first swollen buds 

 that appear should be promptly removed and 

 burnt, to prevent the mite from increasing. 



Earwigs (Forficula auricularia). — When full 

 grown, earwigs are more or less of a dark-chest- 

 nut except after casting their old skin, when 

 they are pale, as are the larvae or young./ When 

 numerous they are very destructive to vege- 

 tation, but particularly to flowers and fruit, on 

 which they feed at night, hiding themselves 

 very cunningly during daylight. They are 

 not exclusively vegetable feeders, but will de- 

 vour aphides, thrips, wild bees, and 6ven their 

 own species when hard pressed for food or con- 

 fined together. The female broods over her 



Fig. 88.— Currant Bud Disease. 



1. Infested bud; 2. Mite {Phytoptus Ribis); 3. Same, younger. 



(All greatly magnified.) 



eggs and young like a hen, but the progeny 

 will even devour her, at least if she should 

 happen to die. When full grown they have 

 perfectly-developed wings neatly folded under 

 the small wing-cases and are believed to fly 

 chiefly by moonlight, so that they may come 

 from a distance to gardens. 



Remedies. — The old practice of placing bean- 

 stalks or something hollow in the neighbour- 

 hood of their haunts is well known. The bean- 

 stalk should be examined every morning and 

 the earwigs blown out and destroyed. A better 

 and more expeditious plan is to put a tuft of 

 dry moss loosely in the bottom of small pots to 

 be placed on the top of stakes supporting the 

 plants or otherwise. Examine these every 

 morning. The Fetid Bove-beetle or Devil's 



