Hello Tom Here,

The little green insects so frequently seen on house-plants are called aphis (plural aphides), plant-lice, or green-fly. They feed upon the tender growth of plants, especially the new leaves, and will rapidly sap and destroy the life of any plant if allowed to remain undisturbed. In the spring these insects abound in great numbers on the plants in green-houses and parlors, or wherever they may be growing, and the remedy should be promptly applied. The greatest enemy to the green-fly is tobacco smoke, made by burning the stems, the refuse of the cigar-maker’s shops; allowing the smoke to circulate among the leaves to which the insects are attached, will readily exterminate them. Place the infested plant under a barrel, an ordinary cracker barrel will do, and put under it a pan of burning tobacco, slightly moistened with water. Leave the plant in the smoke for fifteen or twenty minutes, after which remove it. If one “smoking” fails to destroy the insects, repeat the dose three or four times, once each day, until they are completely exterminated.

 
A strong solution, or “tea,” made from soaking cigar tobacco in water, and syringing the same over the plants, will effectually destroy the little pests, and not injure the plant in the process.

Posted in House Plants