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115 
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Worms.—What will destroy a large black, or 
rather brownish, worm, which, in spite of all my ef¬ 
forts, destroys all the buds of one of my honeysuckles ? 
I can’t tell the name of the vine. It is an annual, 
blooming out in the spring. I have had it about six 
years, and it has never had a chance to bloom but 
once. It blooms in clusters at the joints of the stems. 
The flowers are pink, or rather whitish rose color when 
they first open, then turn to a buff color, and are very 
fragrant. It is very provoking to see the ugly things 
destroy all this beauty and sweetness. 
Merom, Ind. Maggie Hays. 
Answer. —You might try dusting with fresh lime or 
hellebore powder, but probably hand picking would be 
the only remedy. ‘ 
Parlor Ivy.—What is the matter with my Parlor 
Ivy ? I had a hanging basket filled with it; it was 
very thrifty, hanging down some two yards in length. 
In the Fall I transplanted it, taking it out of the bas¬ 
ket (an old tin bucket covered with moss), and put it 
in a new wooden bucket, one of the common sort, 
painted inside. I did not disturb the roots much, but 
the leaves soon began to drop off, leaving the branches 
bare; I then cut the branches off, leaving them about 
a foot in length. About the holidays the Ivy began 
to sprout and grow about half a yard in length, and 
then withered and died. I examined the roots and 
found them rotted; I think the paint had something 
to do with it. L. B. 
Answer. —Did you make holes for the escape of 
water? The plant probably became too wet when 
first transferred to the new basket; it would have been 
best to transfer the plant in the spring. 
Cutting Back.—Will you kindly inform me through 
the columns of the Cabinet when is the best time to 
cut back the plants that have been blossoming all 
winter ? Hitherto, I have been in the habit of cutting 
them back in the spring, when I set them out doors 
under some tree for the summer. I see by the book 
“ Window Gardening ” that it is recommended to repot 
and prune Geraniums closely in August or September, 
and so I want to know if I shall leave my Geraniums 
alone till then ? My plants blossom most abundantly 
all winter, though 1 keep them in a room with a coal 
fire, but by spring the leaves are apt to turn yellow 
and fall off, giving the plant a bare and most distressed 
appearance. These same plants, if trimmed back and 
left out doors all summer, recover, put out fresh leaves, 
and get ready for blossoming again the next winter. 
One reason for pruning in the spring was that my plants 
(Fuchsias and Geraniums, in particular) grow to such 
a height in the course of the winter that I could not 
keep them from blowing over when the pots stand out 
doors. I have three Fuchsias now that are over fifty 
inches in height, with leaves four inches in length and 
three and a half in width, and they are covered with 
blossoms. My Lady Washington was a slip last year, 
but it blossomed finely. This year the buds have 
blasted as fast as they appeared; the leaves turn yel¬ 
low and fall, leaving only a thick cluster of leaves at' 
the end of each branch. What is the matter? It has 
not been in a very warm room. My Chinese Primroses 
have been very small, and presented a pinched appear¬ 
ance, though the plant looked in every way healthy. 
Can any one tell me the secret of the large blossoms 
seen on some piauts of this kind ? I have tried the red 
pepper treatment recommended in “ Window Garden¬ 
ing,” and have found it a certain cure for red spider. 
I shower the plant, then holding it upside down I dust 
the red pepper on to the under side of the leaves, and 
covering the earth of the pot wilh a cloth, to prevent 
the pepper from falling upon it, I leave the plant alone 
for twenty-four hours, then wash off the pepper, and 
the spiders will not trouble any more. A friend of 
mine had a Lantana covered with buds in December 
and January, but none ever came to anything. They 
would fall to pieces at the hast touch, and there 
seemed a sort of black mildew at the root of each em¬ 
bryo flower of the cluster. The plant looked perfect¬ 
ly healthy, and I would like to know why it did not 
blossom; it was kept in a room adjoining one where 
the stove was. Her Abutilon, which blossomed winter 
before last, has not had a single blossom upon it this 
last winter, though the plant looked thrifty and had a 
few buds. I have found pieces of apple laid upon the 
earth a help in getting rid of the white mites; they 
will collect on the pieces of apple, and can be easily 
shaken off from it into the fire every morning. 
C. L. 
Answer .—Treat plants as directed in “ Window 
Gardening.” By cutting back later in the season the 
plants will not become so tall by spring, but nothing 
will prevent room plants in general from becoming 
lankey by the end of season; the plants lose their 
leaves from exhaustion of the soil. The Lady Wash¬ 
ington has probably been frozen. The soil used for 
Chinese Primroses was perhaps too poor; these plants 
require a tolerably rich soil. The Lantanas were 
perhaps grown in a cold or dark place; these plants 
require warmth to flower well in the winter. 
Geraniums. —I have tried for some years past to 
raise plants in the* house and, being obliged by my 
limited facilities for their culture, to give all about the 
same temperature and treatment, I have not succeeded 
very well, and I have thought it would be best to 
cultivate only plants of one family, and direct my 
efforts toward getting the greatest variety and the 
best possible specimens of that one. Would' you 
advise me to make such a specialty of Geraniums; 
and, will you kindly give some information about the 
proper soil and treatment for them ? 
Wyoming. 
Answer .—You will probably obtain as much satis¬ 
faction from the plant named as from any one class of j 
plants. Any light and moderately rich soil will grow 
these plants well. Strike cuttings late in spring for 
winter flowering, and in the fall for spring and sum¬ 
mer blooming; if the plants get too large, plant out 
in the summer, and you will obtain plants of good 
cuttings, and also flowers. 
Cobcea Scandens.— In the March number of last 
year, you speak of the Cobcea. Scandens being easily 
propagated by cuttings. I’ve been told so before. 
Now I have a fine one, three or four years old, in 
my greenhouse (not a very large greenhouse); it grows, 
rapidly, blooms all the time, but I never have had 
one flower go to seed yet, and as to cuttings rooting, 
I can’t make them. To be sure the plant itself 
was from a cutting. Having one from seed, I 
accidentally rooted one cutting out of a quantity. 
The plant from seed died, and this is the cutting, the 
stalk being two and a half inches in size at the 
ground and for half a yard up; but of, I have no doubt, 
a hundred cuttings I’ve tried since, not one has 
rooted; I have tried them every way a cutting could 
be supposed to root. Have good success with other 
things, but none with that. T wish T knew why I got 
no seeds, and what is the trouble in rooting the slips. 
A friend told me she had as ill luck as I, notwith¬ 
standing the gardener said it would root easily, when 
he gave it to her. In the last number, the piece on 
Cyclamens met my eye. I’ve had some growing three 
years. They do well, with but little attention aside 
from watering, have pink and white, both in blossom 
for a long time. “ Ii. H.,” in her “ Bits of Travel,” 
speaks of them as growing wild in Italy, and called 
by the Italians, Mad Violets, and she thinks herself 
they are very like a vicious horse with two ears 
thrown back. “ They always amuse me, and do any 
one who chances to see them.” I notice one woman 
(Mrs. L. M. Hinman), says the slugs bother her on 
her Rose bushes. They did me four years ago, but I 
got white hellebore, made a wash of some of it (rule 
is half pound to half barrel of water), syringed my 
bushes just as the leaves were coming out, and then 
sprinkled some of the dry powder over them. Believe 
I did it twice the first year, but only once the next, 
and last year, merely went out one morning after a 
heavy dew, and sprinkled them with dry powder (I 
use an old pepper box for sprinkling), I have not 
seen a slug since I first used the hellebore. The 
Rose bugs are a nuisance, but as they pay no attention 
to washes of any kind, or anything but my fingers, I 
use the latter to put them in their place, which is not 
on my roses. I’ve a large Safrano bush in the green¬ 
house five and a half feet high, and is full of buds and 
blossoms all winter and spring. I let it rest the last 
of summer, so as to have winter roses to sell. Have 
also a Chinese Primrose that blossoms the year round, 
or two of them rather, a pink and a white one. 
Those black-eyed Susans, my cousin says, are called 
Licorice seeds. She and her parents brought me a 
quantity from Jamaica some years ago. 
S. M. Barber. 
Foxboro’, Mass. 
Answer. —Turn some of the Coboe shoots outside 
in summer, and they will probably ripen seed; the 
cuttings root tolerable easily in a hot-bed, but seed¬ 
lings are the most vigorous plants. Your Safrano 
Rose has flowered well. If your plant were a 
Tigridia and remained in the ground during winter, 
it was killed by the frost. 
Worms.—What will kill a little worm or bug that 
has troubled my choicest flowers this winter ? It is 
about as large as the small red ant, pure white, with 
four tiny feet on eaeh side and two horns .half as long 
as its body. When I water my plants they rise on 
the surface by the hundreds, and they soon kill my 
plants. I have used ammonia and potato water, which 
did no good. Hannah Owen. 
Answer. —Skake the soil away from the roots and 
wash the roots clean and pot in fresh soil, being care¬ 
ful to select such as is free from insects. 
Oleander—We have been told that if we break 
off the flowers from the Oleander with the stems on, 
they wall not bloom again, but that they bloom 
on the same stems year after year. Is it so ? It is so 
with the wax plant—Ligustrum lucidum. 
Answer.— Yes; but the plant will flower from the 
points of fresh shoots. 
Nigella—Will some one please inform me through 
the Floral Cabinet how to treat the Nigella, what 
kind of soil it requires, and whether it thrives in sunny 
or shady places ? 
Vickie Blue. 
Answer. —Any light vegetable soil will grow those 
plants well, with abundance of water when in growth, 
and keep in a dry warm place when at rest, but not 
watered over the foliage. A slight shade from bright 
sun is necessary, in order that their growth may be 
successful. 
