110 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. 
[Packard. 
enemies, we are left solely to our own resources, so feeble 
compared with nature’s. The best remedy against plant lice 
is to fumigate the plant house with tobacco. Shirley Hib¬ 
bard says that the “best fumigator is one with a revolving 
fan, or a revolving cage containing the tobacco, by means of 
which the smoke is blown out in a rapid, dense, killing cloud ; 
but an effectual instrument may be extemporized by knocking 
a hole in the side of a large flower pot, and then having put 
some hot cinders and damp tobacco in it, the nozzle of a 
bellows is placed against the hole, and ejection promoted by 
gentle puffing.” Drenching the leaves with a S 3 u*inge or 
Fig. 74. 
Mealy bug, l'emale. 
Scale insect (young). 
hose, throwing hot water (150° F.) on them, is the best 
remedy against all plant house pests. After the drenching, 
sprinkle powdered tobacco over the leaves. 
Scale Insects .— If we take an imaginary wingless Aphis, 
flatten the body, shorten and weaken the limbs, elongate the 
beak into threads, and endow it with a still more sluggish 
disposition, we shall have a scale insect in its simplest form, 
the “Mealy bug” of our conservatories (Fig. 74, enlarged). 
It may be seen on comparison with the immature or larval 
14 
