64 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
There are many others of the beetle tribe of insects injurious to 
the florist, both without and within doors. The green fly,—the 
red acarus, or spider, as it is commonly called,—and the thrip, are 
all destructive to the beauty of exotic plants, particularly in the 
stove ; but for the two last an efficient remedy has been found 
and employed by Mr. Knight, of the King’s-road, Chelsea. This 
able cultivator of all the rarest exotics, after trying various expe¬ 
dients for banishing the red spider from his hot-houses, thought 
of a plan which effectually clears the plants from dust, as well as 
insects. He makes a solution of glue in warm water, in a large 
tub ; and when sufficiently diluted by additions of warm water, 
and while yet hot, the whole infested plant is plunged in the 
liquid, and immediately returned to their place in the house. 
Thus a thin coat of the solution remains on every part of the 
plant, incasing every insect in a vestment, in which they can 
neither breathe, eat, nor move. The vestment hardens as it 
cools ; and after a day or two, it cracks and peels off the plant, 
bringing with it every insect which it involved. 
This dipping, it will be observed, can only be performed on 
portable plants, or such as occupy pots or boxes not heavier than 
what two men can carry in their arms. On large specimens, as 
orange trees and the like, the solution must be thrown on with a 
syringe, or applied with a soft brush. 
The idea of encumbering insects on plants, so as to prevent 
their motions, or hampering them in any glutinous mass, is an 
excellent plan. One of the first orchardists of the age recom¬ 
mends soft soap, diluted in warm water, to be applied with a 
brush upon apple-trees, infested with the woolly aphis, or Ame¬ 
rican blight; for this not only clogs and kills the old ones, but 
prevents all migration of the young. A band of any glutinous 
fluid, applied round the edge of a pot, or round the stem of a 
plant, preyents all approach to the head by creeping insects. 
Queen's Elms, Nov. 20. 
