MISCELLANEOUS. 589 



8 Bugs on Cuciunber and Melon Vines, etc.. Simple 

 Remedy. — "For the last five years," says a writer to the Chicago Times, "I 

 have not lost a cucumber or melon vine or cabbage plant. Get a barrel with a 

 few gallons of gas tar in it; pour water on the tar, always have it ready when 

 needed ; and when the bugs appear, give them a liberal drink of the tar-water 

 from a garden sprinkler or otherwise, and if the rain washes it off and they 

 return repeat the dose. It will also destroy the Colorado potato beetle, and 

 frighten the old long potato bug worse than a thrashing with a brush. Five 

 years ago this summer both kinds appeared on my late potatoes, and I w^atered 

 with the tar-water. The next day aU Colorados that had not been well protected 

 from the sprinkling were dead, and the others, though their name was legion, 

 were all gone, and I have never seen one of them on the farm since. I am 

 aware that many will look upon this with indifference because it is so cheap and 

 simple a remedy. Such should always feed both their own and their neighbors' 

 bugs, as they frequently do." 



Remarks. — The gentleman does not say how many gals, of tar to a bbl. of 

 water. I should say 4 or 5 would be plenty. See oiled-cloth for hot beds; 

 boxes for hills, etc., which protects from bugs. 



9. Hubbard Squash, the Black Bug upon.— To Destroy.— A 

 ■writer, — "M. A. M.," — to the Detroit Post and Tribune, from Mt. Morris, 

 says he destroys these black bugs by putting a shingle on the ground as near 

 the hills as possible, at night, and in the morning scraps the bugs off the shingle 

 into a bucket of hot water. If very thick, repeat 2 or 3 times a day as long as 

 they last. Don't forget; it is a sure remedy. 



Remarks. — I should hardly expect many would crawl under the shingles 

 in the day time, unless the sun was very hot, as the day is their time of depre- 

 dation; but that in the night tliey would harbor under the shingle. 



10. Bugs, on Squash, Cucumber and Melon Vines— Kept off 

 with Cayenne; also the "Worm from Cabbage.— A farmer by the name 

 of Lynn, writes to one of the papers, that he has succeeded for many years in 

 driving away cucumber and squash bugs from his vines, by dusting cayenne 

 pepper upon them while wet with dew in the morning. He repeats the opera- 

 tion once a week, and finds 5 cents worth sufficient to keep his cucumber, melon 

 and squash vines free during the season. He recently tried it upon the cabbage 

 worm with success. I have no doubt a few tastes of the cayenne would be 

 enough for them. See remarks, also about boxes, after No. 8 above. 



11. Striped Bugs, to Destroy.— Another farmer says: "Saturating 

 ashes with kerosene, and applying a handful in a hill will keep the striped bugs 

 from cucumbers. It is not the bugs that recommend the recipe, but the people 

 who have tried it. It is said to be more effective than a legislative enactment." 



Remarks. — If it is good for cucumbers, I will also warrant it as good for 

 melons and squashes. 



FUNGUS— In Cellars, to Destroy.- The use of sulphur to destroy 

 fungoid growths in greenhouses and vineries is well known to horticulturists. 

 The same remedy may be applied to destroy fungus and mould in cellars, in 



