56 
NOTICES OF INSECTS HURTFUL IN GARDENS. 
is a useful portion of knowledge. Many have an idea that all insects 
are hurtful, and, therefore, are doomed to destruction wherever found • 
but no gardener would destroy the larvae of the Coccinellidce, if he knew 
that they, as well as the perfect insects, live chiefly on the Aphides. 
The Ichneumon flies lay their eggs in the soft skin of the cabbage and 
other caterpillars, by which means great numbers of these pests are 
annually destroyed. And were it not that many tribes of insects are 
destined to prey on others, the latter would become so numerous, that 
every green leaf and every species of green fruit would fall a prey to 
their ravages. 
Of the many insects found in gardens, the Aphides, from their num¬ 
bers, and from the great variety of plants on which they live, are, per¬ 
haps, the greatest enemy of the gardener, though no one is more easily 
extirpated, provided timely and proper measures be taken to kill or 
banish them. They are as troublesome in forcing-houses as in the 
open air ; in the former, they flx themselves on vines, peach, and 
nectarine trees, on strawberry plants that are forced, and almost all 
other plants taken in to be forwarded, whether for the flowers or fruit. 
In the open air, they destroy or very much tarnish our finest rose trees; 
they attack peach, nectarine, plum, and cherry trees on walls, and, if 
suffered to remain unmolested, will destroy the trees entirely. When 
this happens, it is usually attributed to blight, the common name for 
all defects of fruit-trees, whatever may be the cause, whether from 
neglect, mismanagement, mildew, or insects. 
The Aphides are produced by what some naturalists call animalcular 
generation; that is, as they explain it, not only is a mother-insect 
impregnated by the male, but all her progeny also for nine or ten gene¬ 
rations ; hence their astonishing fecundity and increase in a very short 
space of time. In the autumn they are oviparous, laying their eggs in 
patches firmly glued together round the bases of buds, or in any hollow 
of the bark. In this state they appear to be indestructible by frost, 
because, as soon as the warmth of spring commences, they come forth 
in myriads, leaving their little glutinous cases behind. In the summer 
they are viviparous; and then the parturient females may be seen in 
the act of bringing forth their young in rapid succession; so that if 
only a single female be seen on the point of a shoot, she is soon sur¬ 
rounded by a numerous family. 
That the Aphides are easily killed by fumigations of tobacco-smoke 
is well known to every gardener; or the trees sprinkled with snuff or 
tobacco-water from time to time, will keep them off. But the grand 
object of the gardener ought to be the prevention of the attack; and 
this can only be done by applying a wash in the autumn, as soon as the 
