SQUASHES, HOW TO GEOW THEM, ETC. 57 



the use of protectors in my own grounds is confined to 

 one or the other of these. Against air slaked lime, which 

 is very commonly used, there is this serious objection. 



However thoroughly it may be air-slaked, it still re- 

 mains sufficiently caustic in its nature to seriously in- 

 iure the leaves, causing more harm by its burning prop- 

 erties than good, by preventing the ravages of the 

 bug. I have seen an acre of thrifty vines entirely de- 

 stroyed, through the caustic properties developed in the 

 lime by a gentle shower that fell just after its appli- 

 cation ; the leaves were so burned that they rubbed to dust 

 in the finger. Charcoal dust and soot not only protect 

 the vines, but serve also to draw the heat of the sun, often- 

 times very grateful to the young vines in the early season 

 of the year ; while soot and ashes in all localities, and 

 plaster and lime in some localities, as they are washed 

 from the leaves by the rain, serve as a stimulating manure 

 to the young plants. The advantages of plaster and oyster- 

 shell lime are, that being very finely powdered, they can be 

 easily dusted over the vine, while their white color has the 

 advantage that it can be seen at a glance whether the leaves 

 are fully covered. Common dust sounds cheap as a pro- 

 tector, but the trouble of collecting and separating from 

 stones that might otherwise injure the leaves, is more 

 than an offset to the cost of other articles. These pro- 

 tectors should be applied as soon as the young plant breaks 

 ground, before it has fairly shaken off the shell of the seed, 

 as the insect is often at work then, and the application 

 should be renewed after every shower, the object being to 

 keep every leaf entirely covered as far as practicable until 

 the fifth leaf is developed, when the plants are usually be- 

 yond reach of injury from this little enemy, provided the 

 hills have been supplied with rich, stimulating manure, suf- 

 ficient to give them a rapid growth. Among this class of 

 remedies, watering the plants with a decoction of tobacco, 

 a little kerosene oil, stirred in water while being applied, 

 3* 



