SECRETAKY'S PORTFOLIO. 419 



potato itself when bedded. The draws, or sprouts, can be planted first, and 

 the vine itself can be cut up and used as we generally plant slips. 



TAR WATER FOR INSECTS. 



For the last five years I have not lost a cucumber or melon vine or cabbage 

 plant. Get a barrel with a few gallons of gas tar in it ; pour water on the tar ; 

 always have it ready when needed ; and when the bugs appear give them a lib- 

 eral drink of tar water from a garden-sprinkler or otherwise, and if the rain 

 washes it off and they return, repeat the dose. It will also destroy the Colo- 

 rado potato beetle, and frighten the old long potato bug worse than a thrash- 

 ing with a brush. Five years ago last summer both kinds appeared on my late 

 potatoes, and I watered with the tar water. The next day all Coloradoes that 

 had not been well protected from the sprinkling were dead, and the others, 

 though their name was legion, were all gone, aud I have never seen one of them 

 on the farm since. I am aware that many will look upon this with indiffer- 

 ence, because it is so cheap and simple a remedy. Such should always feed 

 both their own and their neighbors' bugs, as they frequently do. — Chicago 

 Tribune. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



DO NOT HANDLE. 



President T. T. Lyon advocates a rule at fairs, rigidly enforced, forbidding 

 any person handling the fruit on exhibition except by authority or permission. 

 The rule should be printed and posted up where all could not help but see it. 

 One or two severe examples made of transgressors would soon cause it to be 

 respected. Fruit men themselves are the worst to manage. Even they should 

 be prevented from handling their own fruit after it is once in place. — Rural 

 Neiv Yorker. 



GET INFORMATION AT THE MEETINGS. 



The young aspirant for honors in horticulture may acquire more knowledge by 

 attending a few meetings and exhibitions than by months of study of his favorite 

 authors. lb stands to reason that the accumulated wisdom of all our higher 

 authorities on the subject, coming as they do from different localities, with a 

 varied experience, and in many instances with distinct specialties, can impart 

 to the seeker after information precisely the kind he stands most in need of. 



