August 7. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
329 
guarded against by a thorough washing, first with 
soap-and-water, and then with the same liquid contain¬ 
ing enough of size or glue to make it rather sticky. 
! Whatever may he thought, then, of the style of garden¬ 
ing in which such an insect appears, let it be known 
that it is far from an uncommon visitor in many cele¬ 
brated establishments; and even if it were not, that is 
no reason why the person so unfortunate as to have it 
| should not likewise have the best advice how to get rid 
j of it which the knowledge of the day can command. I 
j pretend to no such exclusive knowledge myself; but the 
| opinions and the practice of others may fill up the seen 
deficiencies. I hardly know how prevalent the presence 
of this ugly enemy be now, but a few years ago, if I had 
been called upon to make a large collection of first-rate 
stove-plants, I should have considered the labour and 
expense of visiting previously, and narrowly examining, 
some of our best mercantile establishments, as anything 
but money and trouble lost. 
I say nothing at all about the natural history of these 
Mealy Bugs; that I would leave to some one more able 
to do the subject justice; but one thing that renders 
the clearance of this insect so troublesome and difficult 
is, that it takes up its lodgings in the soil and among 
the roots, as well as among the tender shoots. After 
cleaning, by various means, the fruit and leaves of Pine- 
Apples, I have seen the Bug clinging in necklace-fashion 
as tenaciously to the roots as ever 1 have seen a woolly 
insect of a something similar kind clinging to the roots 
of Lettuce plants in summer. 
Keeping this latter fact in mind, it will be of import¬ 
ance, in the case of stove or tropical plants, that the 
roots should he washed or cleaned as well as the tops ; 
and that in the case of more temperate plants, such as 
the Vine and the Peach, the remedy should, if possible, 
be applied at a time before the colds of approaching 
winter induce the insects to seek warmer quarters under¬ 
ground than they can find on the branches, alike for 
continuing their own existence and depositing their 
myriads of eggs. In the case of deciduous fruiting- 
plauts, such as the Vine and the Peach, I know of no 
remedy so effectual as 
Burning Sulphur in the House after the fruit is ga¬ 
thered, the wood well ripened, and the leaves beginning to 
get browned or yellow. I once had a Vine that for two 
j seasons showed this ugly customer two years running, as 
| the fruit was coming to maturity, and that in defiance 
j of various washings. After fumigating with sulphur 
j twice, the one time within a few days of the other, aud 
! duly washing the stems afterwards, I never saw another 
vestige of the Mealy Bug. A friend of mine, who had a 
i vinery tnat had been troubled with the pest for years, re- 
1 sorted to the same plan, and he tells me, that for two sea- 
i sons he has seen nothing at all of it. The fact is also con- 
: firmed by other statements. For all deciduous plants, 
| fumigating them with burning sulphur, about the time 
the leaves are ready to fall, is one of the surest means of 
1 destroying insects. Several things deserve noticing, 
j or rather repeating, for the sake of the uninitiated. 
First: The mode of fumigating. —I have taken some 
; live coals, or burning pieces of charcoal, on either of 
these have put some slips of paper, or a handful of 
: chopped straw, all placed in an old garden-pot, or on an 
j old spade or shovel. When fairly lighted, the sulphur 
was carefully strewed on, and once begun to fiare, 
covered with damp moss or litter to increase the smoke 
| and moderate the pungency of the fumes at first. I 
have also mixed the sulphur with dried saw-dust, and in 
that case much covering was less necessary, as it 
burned more slowly and emitted more smoke. One 
pound of sulphur would smoko a good-sized house. If 
thirty feet long, I would have the sulphur in three 
i burners. It is easy to add more if the house is not full 
j enough. If the operator, on opening the door, is able 
to walk in it, he must have peculiar lungs, or the dose 
has not been strong enough. 
2. Before commencing operations, be sure that the 
plants and wood-work are dry. If the wood of the 
plants be damp it will be apt to be affected, even 
though fairly ripened. If the wood-work is painted, 
and is hanging with damp, you will have a darkish 
hydro-sulphuret of lead, or some chemical combination 
of a dark colour formed. If even the house, when dry, 
should jiresent a little of that appearance, just let it 
alone, and future exposure to air will, ere long, bring 
the colour all right again. 
3. Be certain that the wood is well ripened. Every 
twig aud point of a shoot at all green will have the 
bark killed. 
4. Move every plant in a growing state out of the 
house, or that plant would be injured. 
5. If the house stands in a line with another, stop 
up every hole, cranny, and chink, with putty or clay, so 
that no sulphur fumes can penetrate the other house. 
As an extra precaution, if plants are not moved out of 
such a contiguous house, it will at least be highly 
advisable to move them from near to the division be¬ 
twixt them. 
0. Choose a calm, quiet day or night for performing 
the operation; if a little foggy outside all the better, as 
the fumes will be longer in dispersing. 
7. Repeat the operation a second time, after a few 
days interval. 
8. Let the fumigating take place, if possible, when 
the leaves have finished their functions, but, before they 
fall, as it is better to kill all the insects on them, before 
giving them a chance of getting into holes and crannies, 
by shaking aud pulling off beforehand. 
9. After burning the sulphur, wash the whole of the 
wood of the trees with soap-and-water, and then, if possi¬ 
ble, give a coat of paint to the wood-work of the house; if 
not, let that also be well scrubbed with a soft brush and 
soap-and-water. I had a complaint or two, last season, 
that Mr. Errington and I had led them into a nice scrape, 
in destroying their plants with fumes of sulphur. I 
think we can plead not guilty. Every caution was 
given. Under the conditions mentioned, burning sulphur 
is a harmless and most useful auxiliary; but nothing 
could be more certaiu to ensure destruction to every 
green and growing plant. The careless, when caught, 
must, in future, accuse their own recklessness. 
Washing and Painting Stems of Plants —Our corres¬ 
pondent seems to have done this all according to 
established routine. There is hardly a wash or anoint¬ 
ing paint you could think of, for which you could not 
bring some celebrated gardening authority. Not one 
of these I have seen but contains some materials highly 
useful for the end in view. And yet, as a general rule, 
a few articles secured, a gardener may be left to make 
up the other components of his mixtures according to his 
fancy. A great quantity of ingredients, all arrayed in 
definite proportions, as so much of a pound of this, 
aud so much of a pint of that, so much of an ounce of 
one thing, and so much of a drachm of another, being, 
in many cases, just so much well-defined, high sounding 
quackery. 
Something would be gained if a clear distinction was 
made between washes intended to destroy insects on 
growing plants, and those smearing paints intended to 
destroy insects and their eggs by a process of smothering. 
For the latter purpose, I have long considered that it 
was of little importance what was used, provided the 
mixture was innocuous to, or rather beneficial to 
vegetation, nauseous to insects, sufficiently adhesive 
not to fall off too quickly, and yet not so adhesive as 
to prevent the full swelling of the bark when an in¬ 
crease of temperature was applied. On this account, 
when mere smothering was the object, I have long used 
