HOUSE, AREA, AND WINDOW GAKDENINO. 



173 



development of the plant, we should avoid doing it 

 with a new plant, or with one that has the reputation 

 of being a shy bloomer, until we have the pleasure of 

 seeing it flower for the first time ; after that we can 

 afford to experiment with it, even if we have not 

 been able to get any cuttings from it. 



Period of Rest. — Plants require rest quite as 

 much as animals. Plants get their annual rest during 

 winter. Our winter months are December, January, 

 and February ; but June, July, and August are the 

 winter months of plants which come from the other 

 side of the equator, from South Africa, Australia, and 

 the southern parts of South America. These plants 

 should, therefore, be rested during our summer, and 

 stimulated into growth in our autumn, which is their 

 natural springtide. 



From this it is evident that a good horticulturist 

 must of necessity have a general knowledge of 

 geography ; and fui^ther, that those cultivators who 

 have taken the pains to make themselves acquainted 

 with the physical geography of the parts of the 

 world from which their plants come, must have 

 an immense advantage over those who have not 

 studied the range of temperature, the rainfall, the 

 seasons of drought, the surface-soils, and other 

 kindred matters which affect the growth and well- 

 being of plants. 



The ■jivay to give a plant rest is to withhold it 

 from those influences which ordinarily excite growth, 

 such as light, heat, and moisture. It must not, how- 

 ever, be inferred from this statement that all plants 

 must be put into very dark, very cold, and very dry 

 places during their natural time of resting. Some 

 require only to be kept dry. The amount of light, 

 heat, and moisture under which plants rest best must 

 be learnt from books or from experts. 



Troublesome Animals.— We prefer this title 

 to that of " noxious insects," because there are many 

 creatures that give trouble to gardeners, "which have 

 no more right to be called insects than they have to 

 be called birds. If anything that can fly is to 

 be called a fly, then a bird must be a fly ! A fly is 

 an insect with two wings ; therefore an aphis, which 

 has four wings, is not rightly called a fly any more 

 than a butterfly or a ladybird. So also spiders, 

 which have eight legs, are often wrongly spoken of 

 as insects, seeing that true insects cannot possess 

 more than six legs. No doubt the caterpillars of 

 butterflies, and of some other insects, are fmnished 

 with several pairs of false legs, which are usually 

 soft and fleshy, and are found near the tail, whereas 

 the six true legs are always observable just behind 

 the head. 



The animals which mostly injure the roots of plants 



are worms and caterpillars of beetles and moths. 

 Worms in a pot do harm to the roots principally by 

 their burrows, which admit more air under the soil 

 than is good for the roots, and which allow the water 

 when given to run off too quickly. The plant must 

 be inverted, and the pot tapped upwards and removed, 

 when the worms will usually be found lying on the part 

 of the earth that has been next to the pot, and can be 

 picked off. If they at once disappear into the earth, 

 the pot must be replaced and the soil well watered 

 with lime-water, or (which is better) the plant stood 

 in a jar of lime-water up to its brim. As the lime- 

 water finds it way up the ball of earth, the worms 

 will retire before it, and will all be found on the top, 

 when they should be at once removed. Lime- 

 water is made by throwing two or three lumps of 

 freshly-burnt lime into a pail of water ; after it has 

 become quite clear it is fit for use. Caterpillars 

 are usually found not far from the surface of the 

 earth ; if this part of the soil is loosened and shaken 

 off, and replaced with good leaf -mould, it will often 

 be the means of ridding the plant of caterpillars as 

 well as of manuring it. 



Slugs generally keep underground during the day 

 and commit their ravages at night. They should 

 therefore be searched for with a bull's-eye lamp 

 about 11 o'clock at night— 23 o'clock new style. 



The animals which injure the stems, leaves, and 

 flowers of plants are aphis (or green fly) , soft 

 coccus (or mealy bug), hard coccus (or scale), and 

 thrips, all of which are insects. Besides these there 

 is the so-called red spider, which is an acarus or 

 mite. 



Washing with an insecticide, and subsequently 

 with clean water with the chill off, is the best means 

 to be adopted for removing these pests. There are 

 many kinds of insecticides advertised, all of them 

 more or less useful, all of them more or less ex- 

 pensive, considering that you can make an equally 

 effective fluid for much smaller cost. 



Boil an ounce of quassia chips in three pints 

 of rain-water, and use it after it has been strained 

 and is cool. Plants dipped in this, sponged with it, 

 or syringed with it, will be speedily cleared of all 

 insects. If it is not easy to get quassia, an ounce of 

 tobacco may be substituted for it, and will be found, 

 to be nearly as good. 



A weak solution of paraffin in water is highly 

 effectual; but we cannot recommend its use for 

 house gardening. 



The fumes of burning sulphur are also an effica- 

 cious but dangerous method of killing insects, and 

 quite unsuitable for our present purpose. 



Red spider is often a trouble- to cultivators,, 

 especially to gi'owers of Cacti ; the best thing to do 

 to get rid of them in such a case is to sprinkle a 



