2^2 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 1910 



Schizanthos of Unuinal Size and Wonderful Bloom 



(See article "The Gardens of England," page 281.) 



Madame John Laing, Oliver, A. K. Wil- 

 liams, Winston Churchill. 



Before quitting the genial company 

 of this Devonshire worker among the 

 flowers, I must give you his recipe for a 

 very fine plant food : 



One bushel of soot soft coal, one half 

 pound sulphate of ammonia, two pounds 

 Thompson's plant manure; mix these to- 

 gether and put into a thirty gallon cask 

 in the proportion of half a pint of the mix- 

 ture to three gallons of water. 



This recipe reminds us of the value of 

 soot as a fertilizer. It has been used for 



years in England, where soft coal is 

 burnt in every house. The difficulty here 

 has been the scarcity of soft coal soot, and 

 now that drawback is a thing of the past. 

 The growth of commerce and the yearly 

 increase of factories with their forests of 

 tall chimneys mean a huge accumulation 

 of soot which will doubtless be welcomed 

 hv the cultivator as a valuable medium 

 of nitrates and also of sulphate of am- 

 monia, which while beneficial to the land, 

 especially where cereals are to be grown, 

 is destructi\e to harmlul insects. I am 

 glad to hear that Messrs. Simmers, of 

 Toronto, intend to keep a stock of it. 



Insects that Attack Vegetables^ 



L. Ccasar, B.S.A., O. A. C, Guclph, Ont. 



Every vegetable grower knows to his 

 sorrow the stout, smooth, dull-colored 

 caterpillars that at night cut off his plants 

 at the roots, or climb up them and de- 

 stroy the buds or other parts. In the 

 daytime they conceal themselves in the 

 earth at the base of the plant or lie curled 

 up under a board or any protection near 

 by. 



There are many kinds of cutworms ; 

 some do most damage to plants soon after 

 they are set out in spring, others not 

 until June or July and a few in August 

 or even September. The adults of cut- 

 worms are moths — those dull, brown 

 moths with about one inch of expanse 

 of wings that fly around at night and 

 come into the hou.9es to the lights. 



Most of the moths we .see are cutworm 

 moths. These lay their eggs, as a rule, 

 where they think there will be plenty of 

 food for their young when they hatch. 

 Hence the part of our fields where weeds 

 arc allowed to grow wild is the place 

 where the cutworms are most likely to 

 trouble us the next year. 



•An extract from an address delivered at the 

 recent convention in London, Ont., of tbe Oot^rip 

 Vejetal?ls Orowers' Association. 



The eggs are in most cases, but not in 

 all, laid in the fall and the young cater- 

 pillars which hatch from them feed for 

 a while before winter and then remain 

 hidden in the soil till next spring. As 

 soon as vegetation begins they greedily 

 search for food and, being already a con- 

 siderable size, are very destructive. 



MEANS OF CONTROL 



We should try to keep our fields as 

 free of weeds as possible throughout the 

 season so that the moths will tend to go 

 elsewhere to lay eggs. The destruction 

 of rubbish as early as possible in the 

 autumn, followed by ploughing, will help 

 to destroy many of the eggs or young 

 caterpillars. When the cutworms are 

 present in the soil and causing destruc- 

 tion to plants they can in almost every 

 case be held in check by the use of poi- 

 soned bran. I have myself used this on 

 different occasions with excellent results, 

 and I presume some of y6u have had 

 similar good results with it. It is being 

 used all over North .'\merica to-day as 

 the standard remedy for cutworms of 

 fill kinds. 



The formula is: Fifty pounds bran, ong 



[)ound Paris green, about one patent p;iil 

 of water sweetened with a few pounds 

 of sugar or a little molas.ses. Put the 

 bran into a box of the necessary size, 

 moisten it with the sweetened water 

 until it is just wet enough to fall through 

 the fingers easily without being sticky, 

 then dust some of the Paris green over 

 it and mix well; repeat until all the Paris 

 green is thoroughly mixed in and can be 

 seen on every particle of the bran. This 

 can then be carried out to the field and 

 applied about sundown so as to be fresh 

 and attractive when the caterpillars be- 

 gin to feed. 



I apply it by taking a pailful on one 

 arm and by walking down the row and 

 dropping about a spoonful with my hand 

 by the base of each plant. The cutworms 

 evidently prefer this substance to the 

 plants themselves, and thus are readily 

 poisoned. If one suspects in spring that 

 his plants will be attacked by cutworms 

 he should scatter a little of the poisoned 

 bran over the ground an evening or two 

 before planting. Care should be taken 

 not to let poultry get at this bran. 

 FLEA-BEETLES 



Flea-beetles are tiny little beetles, 

 usually not more than one-tenth of an 

 inch long. Most of them are black, but 

 some are a dusky green, and others are 

 marked with yellow, red and other colors. 

 They get their name from their habit of 

 leaping away when disturbed. Probably 

 the most troublesome of all is the striped 

 turnip flea-beetle (Phyllotreta vittata). 



This insect is black with a wavy band 

 of pale yellow running down each wing- 

 cover. It attacks almost all kinds of 

 plants belonging to the order Cruciferae, 

 such as turnips, radishes, cabbage and 

 cauliflower, and I have seen it this vear 



A Big Bonch of Tomatoes 



There were 53 formed tomatoes in this bunch, 

 on one stalk. It is the Sunrise variety, the seed 

 from which was secured in England. Grown by 

 huiUB V. Masters, Sardis, 3.0. 



