INSECT PESTS AND BLIGHT 



various methods of combating its ravages have from 

 time to time been advocated, such as hand-picking, 

 sowing lettuce beside the rows of Peas, etc. However, 

 a dusting of tobacco powder or soot will be found as 

 effectual a deterrent to the mischief caused by these 

 worms as anything you can try. 



RED SPIDER AND GREEN APHIS OR "PEA LOUSE/' 

 These small injects are apt to attack the vines during 

 hot and dry periods, and war must be waged against 

 them as soon as they appear or they will multiply so 

 quickly as to soon destroy all growth. We recommend 

 spraying with whale-oil soap or a weak solution of 

 kerosene emulsion, applying it every third day until 

 the vines are quite free of them. Vines that are kept 

 growing steadily and that receive a spraying of clear 

 water occasionally in the evening are less liable to be 

 attacked by these pests. 



The SWEET PEA BLIGHT, as the writer has seen it, 

 appears to be caused by drought combined with shallow 

 cultivation, for had the roots been able to penetrate 

 the hard subsoil and reached rich soil, the plants would 

 naturally have kept healthy and strong, instead of 

 drying up, flagging, and becoming yellow, in many 

 cases ere they had even bloomed. 



STREAK DISEASE (Thilavia bassicola), although 

 so prevalent some seasons in England, rarely, if ever, 

 is to be met with in this section, and I have not heard 

 of it being seen in California. 



Scientists who have studied "streak" seem to have 

 arrived at the conclusion that errors in manuring were 

 at the root of the evil. 



We are told that all nitrogenous manures should 

 be withheld from the Sweet Pea, for as it belongs to the 



33 



