14 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



awa}' under old rubbish, in stone heaps and similar places. This 

 is the most critical time in the growth of the squash, and if it is 

 neglected now so as to allow these bugs to lay their eggs for a new 

 crop of bugs, we may as well give up the squash patch at once, for 

 it wnll be impossible to raise a good crop of squashes if the vines 

 are covered with black bugs. The only successful warfare we can 

 wage against them is to kill these old bugs before they lay their 

 eggs. This can be expeditiously done by placing a shingle on the 

 ground close to the vines of each hill, although every other hill will 

 be enough usually, as they will leave the hills which have no shingle 

 for those that have. Having placed the shingles, go round every 

 morning with a pail, and brush the bugs, which are on the under 

 side of the shingle, into the pail, and scald or burn them. If faith- 

 fully applied, this will be a sure cure for the black bug scourge, but 

 it must be followed up closel}', until the vines run, or enough will 

 escape to perpetuate the race and destroy the crop of squashes. 



Wilting Squash Vines. The question is often asked, "What 

 makes my squash vines wilt and die when nearly grown ? " This 

 may be the result of a variet}^ of causes ; often a borer which is 

 eating out the inside of the stem. Of these borers there are said to 

 be two or more kinds. They are hatched from eggs laid b}^ an in- 

 sect on the vine near the root. When the borer is at work his 

 presence may be detected b}^ his excrements, which will be seen at his 

 place of entrance near the root, or at a joint. The vine may be split 

 open and the borers removed, and if well covered with moist earth 

 may sometimes be restored. Mr. Warner, of Sunderland, reported 

 at one of the meetings of the State Board of Agriculture that he 

 was successful in destroying the borer by the application of tobacco 

 to the roots of the vine. In my experience with squashes I have 

 never been able to find a borer, but have, in a few instances, found 

 maggots eating up the roots of waiting vines. Not being able to 

 find tlie borer, I have been led to look for other causes, and have 

 come to the conclusion that the black bug is oftener the cause of 

 the mischief than most people are aware of. By following these 

 wilting vines to their source, a few black bugs will often be found 

 on the under side of the leaves, near the roots. Sometimes no bugs 

 will be found, but a few dry leaves will tell that they have been 

 doing the mischief l)ut have left. I believe these black bugs are 

 the cause of four-fifths of all the wilting of squash vines. The black 

 bug seems to be very poisonous to the squash. They often attack 



