Vegetable Growing for Market 179 



to 6 gal. of water. (5) Trench the ground, and mix with it 2 Ib. basic slag 

 and 12 oz. kainit to every square yard six weeks prior to planting. (6) 

 Remove all the soil from the house and treat it outside; in the meantime 

 thoroughly wash the house with a solution of 1 part of carbolic acid in 

 8 parts of water, or give the walls a good coating of freshly made lime- 

 wash. 



These remedies are more or less of the " hit-or-miss " type, and may 

 or may not be successful or partly successful in destroying the pest. 

 As a first precaution the injured plants should be taken up carefully and 

 burned immediately. After the crop is over, it would be a laborious 

 and costly task to take out all the soil and replace it with fresh material 

 which might also contain Eelworms. Sterilizing the soil by steam or 

 boiling water is perhaps the only effective remedy, and once done 

 thoroughly there would probably be no further attack. In addition to 

 this the soil should be turned up deeply to a depth of 2 or 3 ft. if 

 possible, so as to bring the lower layers into cultivation, and give the 

 upper and perhaps worn-out layer a rest for a season or two. Soil 

 treated, or rather cultivated, in this way is not likely to be too rich or 

 rank in organic material; and if it should be, that drawback can be 

 easily rectified by adding either slaked lime or basic slag (2 oz. to the 

 square yard) at the time of planting. 



Wireworms. These voracious pests are the larvae of beetles known 

 as Click Beetles and Skip Jacks. They are generally found in large 

 numbers in freshly broken ground. It is therefore risky erecting green- 

 houses on land that has been under pasture, or has not been cultivated 

 for some years, until the ground has been well ploughed or dug and 

 exposed to the air for one season at least. In this way the Wireworms 

 will be exposed to their natural enemies the starlings, blackbirds, 

 thrushes, rooks, &c. These will destroy more in a day than any number 

 of " traps " or insecticides will in a month. 



When amongst Tomato plants, W^ireworms will attack the roots and 

 pierce the stems, causing the leaves to wilt badly. One of the commonest 

 methods of catching Wireworms is to cut up pieces of carrot or beetroot 

 into H- to 2-in. cubes, and insert them at the base of each plant just 

 below the surface of the soil. The Wireworms are very fond of these 

 juicy traps, and will be found boring into them. The pieces of carrot 

 or beetroot should be examined every other day, and all Wireworms found 

 should be destroyed. 



Other remedies consist in dressing the soil, at least six weeks before 

 planting, with fresh gas lime, or a week or two before with quicklime 

 at the rate of about J bus. to a square rod. Kainit (about two-thirds of 

 which is salt) may also be worked into the soil three or four weeks in 

 advance, at the rate of 4 Ib. to the square rod, to allow the salt time to 

 work. Superphosphate of lime has also given good results. Sterilizing 

 with steam or boiling water would be most effective when possible; in 

 addition to which the soil should be deeply trenched. 



