46 IVINDOW GARDENINO. 
with the lieat however, and see how they will fall down completely stupefied; but, 
if left to themselves, they will revive, and slowly return to their leafy homes. 
Place a paper under the leaves when you apply the smoke, and tlien you can 
easily destroy them. 
If a plant is very much infested with these noxious pests, take the pot m your 
hand and spread a paper under it, then with a feather or small wing, brush oif 
the insects and burn them all up. Then dip the plant into warm water, to kill 
the eggs, and with a weekly washing, smoking or sprinkling, not an insect will 
be seen. 
A conservatory plant-stand, or window garden with plants covered with these 
insects, plainly announces the neglect they have received. The old maxim seems 
to come here again in play, i. e. " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure." 
If plants were as carefully washed and tended as many pet animals were, 
there would be no need of any remedies against in.sects. 
Conservatories can be kept free of all insects by being smoked once a week 
with tobacco. Close all the windows carefully that lead into the house, take 
the largest size flower pot-saucer, put a shovel full of blazing coals into it, and 
pour over them an ounce of tobacco, letting it smoke well ; if it is slightly damp- 
ened tbe smoke will be more dense. Let it smoke for half an hour, then open 
the window out of doors, and let the .smoke go out. Choose a bright fair day 
when half an hour's outside air will not injure the plants, and you will keep all of 
them fresh and vigorous. 
The mealy bug, is a white mealy looking insect, but very destructive to plant 
life. It does not dislike tobacco, but has a hatred to whale oil soap. A quarter 
of a pound dissolved in five quarts of water, and syringed on to the plants, or 
sprinkled with a watering pot, will force it to disappear. 
Like the aphis, it can be brushed off with a chicken's wing. 
Brown scale will sometimes attack Roses, Daphnes, Oranges and Pittosporums, 
but it is not nearly as common as the above mentioned insect. Bad ventilation 
and dark places are its chief cause and habitat ; frequent washings and picking 
off with the hand, are its only means of destruction, as it thrives on tobacco 
smoke, and makes no objection to the disgusting odor of whale j'l soap suds. 
Thrips is a dark brown or whitish yellow fly, very active on the wing, and 
greatly injurious to many plants. It will not thrive where tobacco smoke is 
given tc plants, and is most likely to be found where plants are placed thickly 
together, in a shaded window. 
The Verbena mite is a most tiny insect, smaller than the red spider, and quite 
as disastrous in its ravages. It «innot be seen with the naked eye, but viewed 
through a microscope, it appears as large as a house fly 
If it attacks your plants, it appears like a black rust so thickly does it congre- 
gate together. It delights in Heliotropes, Petunias, Verbenas, etc., and is closely 
allied to the insect which infests the Plum, Peach and Cherry trees 
Neither sulphur, tobacco, or wh«ile oil soap are obnoxious to it, but it will run 
