118 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE, 



i ( 



coction of tobacco, made so strong as to resemble strong 

 coffee in color. The earth around the plants must be 

 soaked with this so that the lowest roots will be reached. 

 The tobacco water will not hurt the plants, but will be 

 fatal to the insect, and if it has not already damaged the 

 roots to too great an extent, may prove a remedy. 



Ants. — These are not usually troublesome unless in 

 great numbers, yet when they appear in strong force they 

 are often yery destructive. About the simplest method 

 we have found to get rid of them, is to lay fresh bones 

 around the infested plants ; they will leave everything 

 to feed on these, and when thus accumulated may be 

 easily destroyed. 



The Red Spider is one of the most insidious enemies 

 of plants, both when under glass and in the open air in 

 summer. It luxuriates in a hot and dry atmosphere, 

 and the only remedy that I can safely recommend to am- 

 ateurs, is copious syringings with water, if in the green- 

 house, so that a moist atmosphere can be obtained. This, 

 of course, is not practicable when plants are grown in 

 rooms, and the only thing that can then be done is to 

 sponge off the leaves. It is this insect, more than any 

 thing else, that makes it so difficult to grow plants in the 

 dry air of the sitting-room, as it may be sapping the 

 life blood from a plant, and its owner never discover the 

 cause of his trouble. It is so minute as hardly to be 

 seen by the naked eye, but its ravages soon show, and if 

 the leaves of your plants begin to get brown, an exami- 

 nation of the under-surface of the leaf will usually reveal 

 the little pests in great numbers. When they get thus 

 established there is no remedy but to sponge the leaves 

 thoroughly with water, or weak soapsuds. 



The Mealy Bug, as it is generally called, is a white 

 mealy or downy-looking insect, which is often very trou- 

 blesome among hot-house plants, but rarely does any 

 harm amongst those that can live in a cool room, as no 



