208 EXPERIMEXTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



(3.) Banding and wrapping: — 



(a) It will be found to well repay the trouble and expense to place a band of tin 

 around each cabbage or other plant at the time of setting out. These may very easily be 

 made by taking pieces of tin 6 inches long and 2^ inches wide, and bending them around 

 a spade or broom handle so as to form short tubes. In placing them around a plant 

 the two ends can be sprung, apart to admit the plant, and then the tube should be 

 pressed about half an inch into the ground. I have found this a useful means of dis- 

 posing of empty tomato and other cans. To prepare these easily they need only be 

 thrown into a bonfire, when the tops and bottoms fall off and the sides become un- 

 soldered. The central piece of tin can then be cut down the centre with a pair of 

 shears and forms two tubes. 



(h) Wrapping a piece of paper round the stems of plants when setting them out 

 will also save a great many. 



Hand-picking or digging out the cutworm whenever a plant is seen to be cut off 

 should, of course, always be practised. 



(4.) Poisoned Bran Mash. — The most remarkably effective remedy against cut- 

 worms is the poisoned bran mash which has lately come into such wide use. This is 

 made by mixing half a pound of Paris green with fifty pounds of slightly moistened 

 bran. . In making this, it is best first to dampen some of the bran slightly with water 

 containing a little sugar or salt half a pound to a gallon. After mixing thoroUtThly, 

 add the Paris green by dusting it on the surface and stirring all the time. We have 

 found that when Paris green is added to perfectly dry bran, owing to its weight, it 

 will sink at once to the bottom when stirred, in the same way that it does in water. 

 Half a pound of Paris green is enough to poison fifty pounds of bran, although double 

 this amount may be used. If the mixture is too wet, more dry bran should be stirred 

 in until the mixture will crumble easily and run through the fingeis without adhering. 



When required for garden use, all that is necessary is to sprinkle a little of the 

 poisoned mixture by hand around such plants as are liable to attack. When crops 

 are planted in drills or in rows, a convenient way is to make the mixture rather dry 

 and then distribute it by means of a Planet Jr., or other wheel seeder. In field prac- 

 tice, among such close growing crops as standing grain, which are sometimes in- 

 jured by the Bed-backed Cutworm, the poisoned bran remedy is also serviceable. The 

 mixture can be distributed by means of a paddle or shingle and can be thrown easily 

 to a distance of twenty feet. When distributed in this way, there is much less danger 

 of chickens and bii'ds picking it up than if it is placed in hunps. 



The question of danger from the use of this poisoned bait is one which must be 

 considered. It is frequently inquired about by correspondents, and some instances of 

 the poisoning: of poultry where it has been used, seemed to be justly attributable to 

 their having eaten some of it. As a rule, there is little danger from this cause. The 

 quantity used is so small that it is not noticed by poultry ; and then, in gardens, 

 poultry do so m.uch harm to plants that they should never be admitted at the time of 

 year when cutworms occur injuriously and only at special times of the year when 

 there are no crops to injure. If, however, there should be a bad infestation by cut- 

 worms and there is no means of barring out or driving away the chickens, the owner of 

 the crops must decide whether he will lose his crop or take special means of protecting 

 his chickens. The experience of a great manv people who have used this remedy 

 without taking anv special precautions, is that injury to domestic animals is extremely 

 rare; and. although I have been on the watch for any trouble of this sort for many 

 years, I do not know of a single instance when poultry have been poisoned, without 

 doubt, by eating poisoned bran put out for cutworms. However, there will be many 

 occasions when plants in gardens may be protected by putting out the poisoned bran 

 in small heaps and then covering these up with a piece of shingle or some other cover- 

 ing, so that the material cannot be got at by stray chickens and other poultry. 



It has also been asked whether there is any danger of plants absorbing Paris 

 green from this mixture when placed near their roots. In reply to this, it is only 



