Enquire within upon everything

288. To protect Dahlias from Earwigs. Dip a piece of wool or cotton in oil, and slightly tie it round the stalk, about a foot from the earth. The stakes which you will put into the ground to support your plants must also be surrounded by the oiled cotton or wool, or the insects will climb up them to the blossoms and tender tops of the stems. Insects may be prevented from climbing up stakes, trees, &c., by encircling them with a broad ring of tar, which may be renewed as often as may be necessary. Small pots inverted and placed on the top of stakes form a useful trap for slugs, snails, earwigs, &c., which crawl into them for shelter in the early morning, and may thus be caught and destroyed. When it is sought to take earwigs by this means, the bottom of each pot should be filled with a wisp of hay or dried grass, or a little cotton wool. 289. To free Plants from Leaf-Lice. The following is recommended as a cheap and easy mode of getting rid of this pest:--Mix one ounce of flowers of sulphur with one bushel of sawdust; scatter this over the plants infected with these insects: they will soon be freed, though a second application may possibly be necessary. 290. A Moral. I had a little spot of ground, Where blade nor blossom grew, Though the bright sunshine all around Life-giving radiance threw. I mourned to see a spot so bare Of leaves of healthful green, And thought of bowers, and blossoms fair, I frequently had seen.