LECT. v ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 83 



giving the crops a good watering. This should be done an hour 

 after dark, when the slugs are feeding ; it will destroy all it 

 reaches and do no harm to the crops. Day applications are of 

 small service. 2. Dust the crops at night (after dark) with 

 fresh lime, soot, or wood ashes, or all combined ; these dressings 

 destroy slugs and fertilise the ground. 



10. WIREWORMS. Remedies: 1. Spread fresh gas lime on 

 bare land in the autumn at the rate of \ cwt. per square rod, a 

 ton per rood, or 4 tons per acre, to remain for 6 weeks, then 

 well mix in the soil. If it cannot be applied before February, 

 use about half the quantity and work it in a few days, or a 

 fortnight before sowing or planting. 2. Salt, 7 Ibs. per rod, 

 two or three months before cropping. 3. Many wireworms may 

 be caught by burying pieces of carrot, potatoes, or squares of 

 fresh turf, with sticks thrust through them for withdrawal 

 every two or three days. The idea that wireworms eat oil cake 

 till they burst is a popular fallacy. 



11. CLUB ROOT. Crops of the cabbage tribe are often ruined 

 by the roots clubbing and plants withering. One form is 

 caused by the maggot of a fly ; another, the most common, by 

 the grub of a small beetle. Heavy applications of lime are 

 beneficial, a bushel to each rod or plot 5^ yards square. It 

 should be placed in heaps and covered with soil till the lime 

 falls, then spread and worked in. Gas lime, used as advised in 

 No. 10 for wireworms, has also proved of great service. Before 

 planting examine the stems of the plants and remove all warts 

 as these contain maggots, then dip the roots and stems in a 

 mixture of soot, lime, and adhesive soil made into a puddle with 

 soapsuds, to a gallon of which stir in a wineglassful of petro- 

 leum, and place wood ashes round the roots. Superphosphate 

 of lime and nitrate of soda are good as maggot deterrents and 

 fertilizers. 



12. Moss ON FRUIT TREES. Remedies : The soda and 

 potash mixture in No. 4, and dashing freshly slaked lime freely 

 amongst the branches when dripping wet, as after a mist or fog. 

 This also preserves the buds from birds, and the lime which 

 falls to the ground is there beneficial. 



13. THE POTATO DISEASE. This, as has been stated, is 

 caused by a fungus. Early potatoes escape the best, because 

 they are, as a rule, ripe before the fungus spores are ready for 

 distribution ; and of later sorts, those with firm, upright stems 

 and thick leaves. For preventing the disease, what is known as 

 Bordeaux mixture has been found useful. It is made by dis- 

 solving 20 Ibs. of powdered sulphate of copper in hot water, then 

 adding cold water ; the same quantity of freshly slaked lime ib 



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