ioo How to Make the Garden Pay. 



PEA WEEVIL. This is the bean weevil's larger brother, and 

 must be treated in same way. For directions see Bean Weevil. 



POTATO BEETLE. (Doryphora decemlineata) This has 

 become far too common to need description. Change of location 

 for the patch can again be recommended as a means to mitigate if 

 not entirely avert its fearful ravages. Paris green will have to be 

 used in nearly every case, however, if serious damage is to be 

 avoided. Hand-picking is seldom reliable, except where the 

 beetles are not usually very numerous. The remedy can be 

 applied either in dry or in liquid form. The beetles, hungry after 

 a long fast, generally appear as soon as the potatoes are coming 

 up, and the first application of poison preferably in a dry form 

 should promptly be made, to dispose of this old stock, and pre- 

 vent not only the destruction of the first tender foliage and con- 

 sequent weakening of the plants, but also the propagation of the 

 destructive pest. 



The preparation of the poison is quite simple. Pure Paris 

 green is mixed with at least ioo times its weight of plaster, flour, 

 or air-slacked lime the first named preferred. Make the 

 mixture thorough, and if convenient, prepare it a few days in 

 advance. In the absence of better means of application, a simple 

 tin-can, with handle and perforated bottom, will answer the 

 purpose, especially when the plants are yet small. Give each 

 plant, as soon as up, a dash of the dry poisonous mixture, and 

 thus protect it from harm. Later on, when the first brood of 

 eggs hatch, the young larvae or slugs concentrate in the tender 

 centres of the stalks, and another dash of the poison should be 

 applied without delay, for if neglected more than a few days, the 

 slugs will scatter all over the plants, and make fighting them 

 more inconvenient, necessitating the distribution of the poison- 

 ous material over the entire surface of the plant. Repeat the 

 dose as often as required. Various new devices for putting 

 poison in dry form on potatoes, by hand or horse power, have 

 now been introduced, and the grower must select those that suit 

 his case. 



When the poison is to be applied in liquid form, one pound 

 of the pure article should be stirred into 150 gallons of water, 

 and under constant stirring, be sprayed over the plants with force 

 pump and spray nozzle. An effective application cannot well be 

 made by the quite common method of using a garden sprinkler, 

 or any similar sprinkling device, without more or less injury to 

 the foliage, in consequence of the uneven distribution over the 

 foliage. The liquid gathers here and there in drops, especially 

 on lower end of leaves, and evaporating, leaves the poison often 

 too concentrated for the good of the plants. This danger may, 

 at least in a measure, be avoided, by having the liquid weak, and 

 keeping it constantly stirred to hold. the poison well suspended 



