Pests of garden plants

Aphids, or plant-lice, and their congeners, are indicated by an unhealthy appearance in plants; the leaves and young shoots curl up, and multitudes of ants, which seem to feed on their secretions, are seen about the stems. A remedy is found in repeatedly syringing the leaves and stems with tobacco or lime-water, or with gas-tar water when tahat can be obtained; but plants should be carefully examined in may, and the winged parent of the Psilla Pyra, and its congeners, destroyed before they have deposited their eggs. Lady-birds (coccinelidae) render great service in destroying myriads of aphides, which ought to insure them the protection of gardeners. Tobacco smoke, dispersed through a house by fumigator, and Gishurst’s compound are effectual in clearing plants of green fly; but if fumigation is resorted to, all apertures must be effectually stopped, so that the smoke may be retained within the structure, and so throughly do its work.

            When the aphids, or green fly, collects in great numbers on the end of a shoot of any plant, such as the rose, covering it with a thick external coating of insect life, it has been found that they may be easily removed by means of aphid brushes. These brushes are made in the form of scissors. At the end of each arm is a narrow brush formed of soft bristles. The brushes are closed on the infested shoot a little below the insects, and then drawn upwards and along it. Two or three applications of the brush will very neatly, if not entiraly, remove all the aphids without doing any injury to the shoot. Sometimes the aphids brush is made in the form of sheep shears-that is to say, an elastic bow, with a brush at the end of each arm. Pressure only of the thumb and fingers is required to bring the brushes together, and the shoot is cleared as before by drawing the brushes along it.