86 ELLWANGEB & BARRY'S 



light covering. This may be done by billing up with earth ; or, better, by strewing kaves 

 or straw lightly over the plants and securing them with evergreen branches ; oftentimes the 

 latter are in themselves sufficient. 



INSECTS. 



If proper attention is paid to soil, planting, watering, etc., and a few simple directions 

 heeded, you will not often be greatly troubled. The Aphis is among the most annoving 

 foes, and particularly infest plants in houses ; healthy plants in the garden are but little 

 liable to their attacks. There are numerous recipes for their destruction, and the cultivator 

 can use those which are most convenient and etiicacious. 



The vapor of tobacco is not only very effective in destroying insects where it can be con- 

 fined, as in greenhouses, but it is less injurious to delicate plants than either the smoke or 

 the liquid. Hence, instead of fumigating greenhouses, it is customary now to strew the 

 ground under the plants with tobacco stems, which being moistened by the syringing, 

 creates a vapor, which is destructive to insect life. This method will probably supersede 

 the old way of fumigating with tobacco smoke, which we have always found up to the 

 present time, the best mode where appliances can be had for confining the smoke ; this, 

 however, is not very convenient for use in dwelling houses, but we have other excellent 

 remedies which are more practicable. Take four ounces of quassia chips, and boil them 

 ten minutes in a gallon of soft water; strain olf the chips and add four ounces of soft soap, 

 which should be dissolved in it as it cools, stirring v.'ell before using. It may be applied 

 with a clean painter's brush of moderate or small size, brushing every leaf and shoot that 

 is infested. After fifteen or twenty minutes have elapsed, the plants should be washed or 

 syringed with pure water. Another good remedy is the same as above, only tobacco stems 

 — say a quarter of a pound — are used instead of quassia. 



In the month of May, or as soon as the leaves have pushed forth, the rose caterpillar 

 makes its appearancef he can readily be detected, for he glues a leaf or two together to form 

 his shelter. Every day the bushes should be gone over, and these glued leaves pinched 

 between the finger and thumb, so as to crush the caterpillar; let no fastidious grower neg- 

 lect this, or be induced to try other remedies; this is the only one that is simple and effective. 

 For other insects, such as the saw fly, larvae, and all such as come at a later date than the 

 caterpillar, an occasional syringing, vigorously applied, will prove an excellent preventive. 

 When they have made their appearance, a sprinkling of powdered white hellebore over the 

 plants will often destroy or disperse them ; but the plants should be well moistened before 

 the hellebore is applied, so that it will remain. The red spider may be generally kept off 

 by keeping the plants daily syringed with water. When plants are once infested with this 

 dreaded insect, the fumes of sulphur will alone disperse or destroy them, Tljis application 

 will, of course, cause the foliage to drop off, but it is the only remedy we know to be effica- 

 cious. The red spider very seldom attacks plants in the open air, but confines itself to the 

 plants under glass. 



For the rose bug, hand picking must be resorted to, for, like the red spider, it is proof 

 against hellebore, whale-oil soap, and all such applications. 



MILDEW. 



This disease is generally caused by extremes of heat and cold, and by a long continuance 

 of damp, cloudy weather. The best remedies are sulphur and soot ; one of these should be 

 applied the moment the disease makes its appearance. It is a good plan to previously 

 sprinkle the plants with water, so that the substance applied will adhere. 



