56 



iRlSU GARDENING 



8quare yard; this lu'iiig given some time before 

 tlie crops are planted, otherwise the crops may 

 suffer more from the cure than the fjest. Crude 

 naphthalene is often recommended, but I have 

 found it less effective than the salt or gaslime 

 (which is not saying much}. On one occasion 

 when dealing with a very bad piece of grass 

 land I i)ut into the bottom of the trenches nuts 

 of quicJx liiiir broken small, about the size of wal- 

 nuts, over this the sods and some soil on the top. 

 When forking over the ground some time later, 

 to note results, reniarkahly few of the pests were 

 discovered. Various trap devices may be tried. 

 (_)ne of the best of these is to slice some Potatoes 

 ur other " roots " and put them into the ground 

 at close intervals, some few w'eeks bi'furr planting 

 the crops.. By noting the spot where the slices 

 liave been inserted, and examining the pieces at 

 intervals, many wire worms will be discovered, 

 when they can be dealt with as desired. To 

 facilitate the lifting out of the Potato, Carrot or 

 Turnip slices make a more or less circular 

 Jiolder of fine mesh wire netting, put the slices 

 within, attach a piece of wire, then bury with about 

 nine inches of soil on top, leaving the wire where 

 it will be easily seen. The free use of fertilisers 

 such as Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of Soda, 

 Kainit and superphosphate, and even of soot and 

 seaweed serves as a deterrent to this pest. 



J^E.\THER Jacket. — Another troublesome pest on 

 new land is the leather jacket. This pest is d\ill 

 brown or earth coloiir, al)0ut an inch and a quarter 

 Jong, cylindrical in shape, roughly a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter, with peculiar head and tail 

 ends so that it is not easy to say which is which at 

 first sight. It should be treated as recommended 

 for the wire worm, the best method again being 

 that which facilitates the action of birds, such as 

 tlie Starling, which annually devours thousands of 

 them. Sods placed on the ground will often serve 

 as traps. In very bad cases it will pay to fumi- 

 gate the soil with carbon bisulphite at the rate of 

 from half an ounce to an ounce per square yard. 

 Using a patent injector so as to deposit the fluid at 

 a depth of from six to nine inches. 



Slugs and Snails. — These pests appear to select 

 the choicest bits of Lettuce, seedling Cauli- 

 flowers, &c., that the garden holds. They can be 

 trapped by placing a little bran under boards 

 raised slightly above the ground level, or placing 

 sun-scorched Cabbage leaves on the soil, or by 

 using one of the patent traps now on the market. 

 Eirds again should l)e encouraged, especially 

 thrushes. Where it is possible in early autumn 

 (before the slugs hibernate for the winter), poultry 

 should be admitted on to the plot; these will de- 

 vour many of them, but in some cases the cure 

 might be worse than the disease. 



The best solution I have ever used for this pest 

 in a small garden can be made up as follows : — 

 Take a wineglass full of strong ammonia, .88 of 

 tlie chemist's shop, put into a gallon of water, 

 and water through a fine rose on to plants, soil, 

 box edgings, &c., at night or early morning. The 

 old fashioned method of taking dry powdered 

 quick lime, and equal quantities of fresh soot, 

 mixing together and strewing along box edgings, 

 walls, &c., for two or three nights in succession, 

 putting on two applications in one night, if 

 possible, is still a good one. Acetylene refuse, salt 

 and Nitrate of soda put on separately, or mixed, 

 at about two ounces to the square yard— but not on 

 top of the crops of course— will help to minimise 

 the attacks of the pests. While gritty substances 



such as i:)owdered glass, as used for making glass 

 paper, cniders, and specially objectionable sub- 

 stances, such as i^araffin and sawdust, placed in a 

 ring around special plants will prevent attack. 



Millipedes. — These occasionally prove trouble- 

 some to various crops. They can be distinguished 

 from the generally useful centipedes by their dark 

 ))rown colour, by the characteristic way in which 

 they curl up when at rest, and by their having 

 two pairs of legs on each apparent segment of the 

 body instead of one, as in centipedes; they also 

 have rounder bodies and shorter feelers than the 

 centipedes. Partially hollowed Beet Roots, Pota- 

 toes and Parsnips, &c., will serve as traps. In ex- 

 tremely bad cases fumigating with carbon 

 bisulphite as recommended for leather jackets wall 

 be tlie best method, but as a general rule this 

 pest is not particularly troublesome on garden 

 plots. 



Maggots. — Various crops are attacked by mag- 

 gots of different kinds, which attack either stems, 

 roots, leaves, flowers or fruits, as the case may be. 

 Typical among such crops we have the Onion, and 

 in many districts this crop is seldom obtained 

 from spring sowings, if made outside. The fly 

 which deposits the eggs from which the maggots 

 develop, usually does her work during the warm 

 days of early summer, when the Onions are 

 nearly ready for thinning, after which the Onions 

 begin to turn yellow and often die away altogether, 

 while within them will be found wdiitish maggots. 

 To prevent attacks such as this the plants should 

 be sprayed when about one, two and three inches 

 high with paraffin emulsion or other smelly fluid, 

 so as to give the crops and soil a flavour quite 

 distinct from that of Onions, w-hen the flies will 

 go elsewhere to deposit their eggs. A quart of 

 paraffin or turpentine mixed with a barrow load 

 of soil or sawdust, and sprinkled between the rows 

 of plants, will also act as a deterrent, and other 

 fluids such as carbolic may be used. It is a good 

 plan also to incorporate in the seed drill a com- 

 post made up of one part wood ashes, one part 

 soot loam, one part poultry or pigeon manure, 

 putting the lot through a quarter of an inch sieve, 

 and adding half a pint of paraffin for every barrow 

 load of soil. Frequent applications of soot, and 

 slight earthing up with soot or soil also act as 

 preventives. When thinning is being done the 

 soil should be pressed against the remaining 

 jjlants, and watered if at all dry. Autunm and 

 spring sown plants under glass are not usually 

 attacked to the same extent as are those of the 

 spring sowing out of doors. 



Carrot Fly. — Beet Fly, Cal)bage Fly, &c., can be 

 kept at bay by using similar methods. During 

 various seasons I have tried sowing Radishes 

 alongside the Carrots, at about three inches from 

 the row, with satisfactory results. Perhaps the 

 princijial reason for failure of the Carrot crop lies 

 in the poorness of the soil in which it is often 

 grown. If there is a good layer of rich feedine; 

 material at about twelve inches deep in the soil, 

 and a compost as suggested for Onions, placed in 

 the drills, less will be heard of the pest. Where 

 Cabbage or Cauliflower fly is prevalent the young 

 plants, in addition to being syringed in the seed 

 bed, should be puddled in a mixture of mud and 

 carbolic (a teaspoonful of Jeyes Fluid to a pailful 

 of thick mud) before planting. In all the fore- 

 going examples due to fly, the remains of plants 

 should be burned or very deeply trenched and the 

 soil ridged in early winter. 



Celery or Parsnip Fly is also troublesome at 



