I looked at him wonderingly, for he was pointing at a syringe standing
in a pail of soapy-looking water.
"Yes," he continued, "that's right--kill 'em when you can. If you leave
them, and greenfly, and those sort of things, alone till to-morrow, by
that time they're turned into great-grandfathers, and have got such a
family of little ones about 'em that your leaves are ten times worse."
"But what are those red specks?" I said.
"Red spider, boy. Now I'll show you. This is my plan to keep my plants
healthy: have a bucket of soap and water in every house, and a syringe
in it. Then you take it up as soon as you see the mischief and kill it
at once. It's all handy for you, same as it is to have a bit of matting
hanging up on a nail, ready to tie up the stem that wants it. Somebody
said, Grant, `A stitch in time saves nine,' it ought to have been, `A
washed leaf keeps off grief.' See here."
He took the syringe, filled it, and sent a fine shower beneath the
leaves of the melons, where they were trained over a trellis, thoroughly
washing them all over.
"Now you try," he said, and taking off my jacket I syringed away
vigorously, while with matting and knife he tied in some loose strands
and cut off others, so as to leave the vines neat.
"That'll do for the present," he said; "but mind this, Grant, if ever
you see an enemy, shoot him while he's a single man if you can. Wait
till to-morrow, you'll have to shoot all his relations too."
He led the way out of the pit, and round by the grounds, where different
men were at work mowing and sweeping, the short cut grass smelling
delicious in the morning air. He spoke to first one and then another in
a short business-like way, and then went on with me to one of the great
conservatories up by the house.
"I might put you to that sort of work, Grant," he said, giving his head
a backward jerk; "but that wants no brains. Work under glass does. You
want to work with your hands and your head. Now we'll have a tidy up in
here. Sir Francis likes plenty of bright flowers."
I should have liked to stop looking about as soon as we were in the
large glass building, which was one mass of bloom; but following Mr
Solomon's example I was soon busily snipping off dead flowers and
leaves, so as to make the various plants tidy; and I was extremely busy
in one corner over this when I suddenly found that Mr Solomon was
watching me, and that a big bell was ringing somewhere.