
Care in this initial treatment of new plants 
is extremely important. It doesn’t take an 
Einstein to figure that it’s easier to treat two 
or three new plants than to treat a whole col- 
lection, particularly if it runs over a dozen plants. 
And if you have many fine specimen plants it’s 
right next door to suicide not to take these pre- 
cautions. 
Now to scold you a little. For goodness’ sake, 
don’t make the mistake of under-valueing your 
prize plants. Stock that you buy through the mail 
is primarily intended for growing on. The care in 
feeding, blooming, spacing and grooming these 
plants increases their value as much as ten fold. 
Don’t let the good-natured kidding of relatives and 
friends beguile you into thinking of your collec- 
tion as “my ol violets’. A collection of Saint- 
paulias, tended by skillful and loving hands, is not 
to be apologized for. On the contrary, it is a pos- 
session of ever-increasing value. 
To get back to the subjoct. Your plant-ailment 
equipment should include, first, a spray gun and 
a good spray. We have used nicotine sulphate in 
the past and, although it does a wonderful job on 
aphids (which you'll probably never get anyway) 
it burns the flowers if used in sufficient strength 
to do a good job. Also, it is a deadly poison. 
NNOR, on the other hand, is an excellent 
rotenone spray which has the added _bene- 
fit of leaving a nice glossy look to the foliage 
We have the 6-oz. size of this for $1.00. Can be 
used in heavy dilutions without damage. Caution: 
mix a new batch for each spraying. Kills red 
spider, mealy bugs, and thrips. Will discourage 
mite but won’t clear up a heavy infestation. 
A word about spraying technique. DO A 
THOROUGH JOB. Some people prefer to dip the 
plant in the spray solution, which works out all 
right if you have a sufficiently large container. 
But it is extremely important, if you are spraying 
at all, to reach every leaf, top and bottom, and 
the flowers and stems. Let the plant dry thorough- 
ly before placing it back in the sun again. 
Many collectors spray or dip plants regularly 
as a cleaning as well as an insect-killing chore. 
There is no doubt that the plants respond beauti- 
fully to such treatment. 
If you have springtails, try watering the plant 
with a spray solution. If you dip pot and all, that 
will take care of them, too. 
Sodium Selenate. I welcome this opportunity 
to clear up some mistaken ideas about this in- 
secticide—if that’s what you call it. As most of 
you know, sodium selenate is watered in, is ab- 
sorbed and carried up into the plant by the roots. 
If the plant is so weakened by parasitic insects 
that the motion from root to leaf is greatly re- 

