November, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



183 



Stunted growth made by a coleus as the result of 

 attacKs by the mealy bug 



cause there is no danger of burning the roots; 

 horse manure and sheep manure are also 

 good but they must be used very weak or 

 ihev will injure the roots. I have used horse 

 manure very successfully when the liquid was 

 the color of very weak tea. These are mussy 

 to handle. Neater are the special plant foods 

 put up in tablet, liquid or powder forms. 

 These can be bought in the local stores or 

 ordered from the catalogues of seedsmen. 



Perhaps the greatest enemy of plants grown 

 in houses heated by hot air furnaces or coal 

 stoves is coal gas. An otherwise imper- 

 ceptible trace of it in the air will cause the 

 leaves of some plants (as the Jerusalem 

 cherry) to drop off promptly. With a good 

 chimney draught and with proper regulation 

 of the dampers when attending to the fires 

 there should be no trouble from this source. 



Illuminating-gas is almost as bad as 

 coal-gas. The slightest trace will retard the 

 development of new leaves on all but the 

 toughest-textured plants like rubbers and 

 palms. Such thin-leaved plants as gera- 

 nium, coleus, heliotrope, and begonia 

 succumb quickly. When gas is present in 

 small quantity the plants do not necessarily 

 die but growth is stunted and the flower buds 

 wither when beginning to show color, looking 

 much as though they had been chilled. 



The mealy bug, like small tufts of cotton, is the worst 

 pest on coleus and wax plant 



The commonest insect enemies of house 

 plants are the plant lice or aphides, especially 

 the "green fly." Look for these pests on 

 the under side of the leaves where they suck 

 the sap. Against these use tobacco water or 

 soap suds. Tobacco water may be made 

 from tobacco "stems" which can be bought 

 from almost any florist or seedsman. Put a 

 large handful into a gallon of warm water and 

 let it stand for twenty-four hours, then dilute 

 it to the color of weak tea and syringe the 

 foliage, being careful to hit the under sides 

 of the leaves. A simple way is to buy a 

 tobacco extract and follow the directions on 

 the package. 



If soap suds are used rinse the plants with 

 clear water. 



If the plants are grown in a conservatory, 

 or a room that can be completely shut off 

 from the rest of the house, fumigating is the 

 easiest and best method of fighting the 

 aphides. 



For this tobacco stems may be used, but the 

 tobacco preparations offered in the stores 

 are easier to handle, according to directions. 



One can now buy sheets of paper which 

 are impregnated with tobacco, and all that 

 is necessary is to distribute enough sheets 

 about the room to give the required density 

 of smoke and set them afire. 



Whatever method is used select a quiet 

 night for it and shut the room tight. By 

 morning all evidences of the smoke will have 

 disappeared. Then syringe the plants to 

 knock off the aphides. Badly infested plants 

 will need fumigating twice a week on suc- 

 ceeding nights. 



A blue aphis sometimes attacks the roots, 

 causing the plants to take on a sickly or 

 yellow color. It is easily found by digging 

 down near the base of the stem, and is 

 attacked by watering with the tobacco water 

 already described. If this does not kill the 

 aphides the plant must be removed from the 

 soil, the roots washed with whale-oil soap 

 (one quarter pound to two gallons of 

 water). Then repot in fresh, clean soil. 



Next to the aphides in destructiveness is 

 the red spider, a very small red mite which 

 can scarcely be seen by the naked eye. It 

 lives on the under side of the leaves but its 

 presence can be readily told by numerous 

 minute yellow spots on the upper side. Like 

 the aphis the red spider subsists on the 

 plant's juices. It thrives in a hot dry atmos- 

 phere and its presence is a sure sign of in- 

 sufficient moisture. The conditions ordi- 

 narily found in living-rooms are very favorable 

 for this pest. The remedy is obvious: 

 svringe the plants with water, applying it 

 on the under side of the leaves, and with 

 considerable force because the spider is 

 protected behind a web. 



Mealy bug is almost always present in the 

 greenhouse, sometimes infesting house plants 

 too. This insect looks like a small tuft of 

 white cotton and is found on the under side 

 'of the leaves and in the joints. A strong 

 stream of water will usually wash it off, but 

 if that fails use kerosene emulsion or fir-tree 

 oil which must be diluted according to the 

 directions on the package and applied as a 

 spray or with a feather. 



The most highly colored foliage plant for window 

 cultivation is the coleus. It needs a sunny window 

 in winter 



Sometimes plants are infected with thrips 

 which eat the epidermis of the leaves. They 

 are small, slender, brown or black insects, 

 about one-fourth of an inch long, and are 

 easilv controlled by any of the contact 

 insecticides already mentioned, or by Paris 

 green — one teaspoonful to twelve quarts of 

 water. 



If angleworms infest the soil in the pots 

 they may easily be gotten rid of by watering 

 with lime-water which may be made as 

 follows: To ten or twelve quarts of water 

 add one and one-half to two pounds of fresh 

 lump lime, letting it stand for a couple of 

 days or until the lime has slacked and the 

 water cleared, then pour off the clear water 

 for use. Several waterings with this at in- 

 tervals of three or four days will drive out the 

 worms. 



Scale insects are protected by a hard shell and 

 must be sprayed with kerosene emulsion or whale 

 oil soap 



