June 12. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
183 
though I should be more certain did I see a leaf or two 
that were affected. The Azaleas must be treated as 
above recommended, and the house must also be smoked 
repeatedly until the insects are wholly destroyed. If they 
have not held possession long, a few smokings will be 
.sufficient; but if they have had time to produce numerous 
colonies, the process will have to be repeated often. If 
you attempt to syringe- with tobacco-water it must be 
weak, and the berries must be young. Clear sulphur 
lime-water, in a weak state, will also be useful. Laurel- 
water, formed by bruising a bushel of leaves and young 
shoots, placing them in a barrel, pouring over them a 
gallon of boiling water, and covering up as carefully 
as if you were making tea, or brewing beer, and then, 
when cool, adding from six to eight gallons more water, 
and syringing with the clear portion, I have found 
the best thing for destroying and banishing Thrip, next 
to the tobacco-water. The laurel-water leaves a pleasant 
smell of custard confectionery behind it When I grew 
Cucumbers and Melons largely, in houses and pits, sus¬ 
pended from trellises, I used to keep them clean of this 
pest chiefly by means of the laurel-water and the sharp 
eyes and fingers of a boy. These insects have really 
taken possession in good earnest if ever they are seen 
on the upper side of the leaf. When there is free access 
to observe the underside of the foliage, it is amazing how 
soon a sharp boy will catch a great number of these 
quick-jumping fraternity. In an instant, the eye 
traverses the under surface of the leaf, and if a Thrip is 
visible, a finger, kept wet, is pounced upon him as 
quick as lightning, and when waddling in what to Mr. 
Thrip is a regular river, there is little occasion for con¬ 
ference as to what is to become of him. Such Thrip- 
catching can only be attempted on large-leaved plants. 
With such plants as Azaleas, recourse must be had to 
other means. 
I speak rather feelingly on this subject, as I once got 
the Thrip into a house of Vines through putting some 
large Azaleas there which, unknown to me, had got the 
insect upon them. Too secure, I never noticed the 
Thrip until he got pretty well ahead, and the grapes 
were too forward to admit of many applications to destroy 
the insect. After injuring the foliage considerably, they 
actually attacked the fruit, which gave many of the 
berries an unsightly, blistered, dotted appearance ; and 
so afraid was I of not beiug able to keep the fruit, that I 
used it up as soon as fit to cut, and preserved for later 
use an earlier house. Tobacco-smokings, though miti¬ 
gating, did not remove the mischief, and I found that 
the remedy was about as bad as the Thrip, as the flavour 
of the ripening fruit seemed to be affected. No time, 
therefore, should be lost in effecting a remedy whilst 
the crop is young. 
I did not succeed in banishing this mischievous pest, 
and I attribute the ultimate riddance to shutting up the 
house close as soon as the fruit was cut and the 
wood well ripened, and burning sulphur inside, pre¬ 
venting the fumes escaping as much possible. All 
the foliage was allowed to remain until the burning 
the sulphur had been repeated. The process has several 
times been explained. Two precautions are necessary. 
First, that the fumes should reach no plant in a growing 
state, or which would be injured by destroying its 
foliage. Deciduous plants only will, therefore, bear this 
treatment. And secondly, even deciduous plants will 
bear it without injury only when the wood is thoroughly 
ripe. If at all green and succulent, the wood will be 
destroyed as well the foliage. 
On examining the leaves, after a second dose, the 
Thrips seemed dead; but next season, though the house 
was all washed with soap and water, though the Vine- 
stems were first cleaned, and thoroughly washed with 
warm soap-water, and afterwards painted with sulphur, 
clay, &c., still I had a few Thrip make their appearance 
the following year, which were subdued at an early 
stage by tobacco fumigations and removing an affected 
leaf as soon as seen. A few eggs had probably escaped 
the sulphur fumigations, as well as the washings and 
paintings. I imagined that nothing could long live in 
a house filled with the smoke and fumes of burning 
sulphur; but perhaps even this is not so destructive to 
animal life as is generally supposed. At any rate, I 
was very much surprised, last year, in opening a house 
that had been so fumigated and shut up for forty-eight | 
hours nearly, to find a Robin hopping about, quite 
comfortably, to all appearance, though even then the i 
fumes were anything but pleasant. The Robin might j 
have got to some cranny, or near to where he could 
inhale a little air from some unseen opening; but 
even with all these advantages in his favour, it is well 
known that a little of these sulphur fumes will soon 
tumble a larger fowl from its perch. 
“Burned children dread the fire;” and ever since, 
though well aware that I could not give Azaleas a better 
place in the early part of summer than beneath the 
shade of Vines while beginning to grow, I am shy 
enough about introducing them there, and sometimes 
prefer a later bloom, by keeping the plants in the 
conservatory, to running any risk of getting such a 
pest on the Vines. Our correspondent will do well to 
use the tobacco-water for the Azaleas, and the tobacco¬ 
smoking for the house generally, without delay. 
R. Fish. 
Hollyhock Paper. —Paper as well as rope have been 
made from the fibre of the Hollyhock by Mr. Niven, 
gardener at Iveir House. He has patented his invention. 
The Gooseberry Caterpillar. —Some idea of the 
extent to which this pest has spread may be gathered 
from the fact, that Mr. Morris, the extensive market 
gardener of Iselwortb, has, at the present moment, up¬ 
wards of one hundred women daily employed in picking 
these caterpillars from the Gooseberry bushes. 
IPOM2EA IIORSFALLLE. 
(Mrs. Horsfall’s Ipoilea.) 
Though the genus Ipomaa contains many beautiful 
freely-flowering climbers, yet there is none, in my 
opinion, so handsome, both in foliage, in bud, and in 
flower, as the one named in honour of Mrs. Horsfall, 
the lady of the gentleman who introduced it from the 
East Indies so long since as 1833. Some years ago, T 
saw the original plant, and it was so highly valued, that 
the entire roof of the stove was given to it, and was 
thickly covered with its branches and blossoms. Since 
then I have seen specimens in various places, but none 
are so strong and well-grown as the original. Mr. 
Horsfall resided then at Everton, near Liverpool, and 
had a fine collection of plants, especially Orchids ; but, 
alas! (for the plants) Liverpool, like London, has 
walked out into the green fields, and almost sacrilegi¬ 
ously into many pleasant gardens, causing sad havoc 
with plants and plant-houses. Mr. Horsfall’s place is 
swept away, and bricks and mortar, in the shape of 
houses, cover that pleasant spot. What became of the 
splendid plant of Ipomtea Horsfallicc I know not. j 
Fortunately it is now plentiful,—so much so, that a 
good plant may be purchased for 3s. Gd. As some of j 
our readers may not have seen it, and have a stove to i 
