GARDENING FOR AND BY AMATEURS. 23 



civic improvement throughout the country are composed of women 

 and much good is being accomplished through their efforts in 

 planting and protecting street trees, in establishing children's 

 school and home gardens, and in calling attention to the desira- 

 bility of tidiness around the home grounds. He said that horti- 

 culture is not a fad but a real thing and that children brought up 

 in its environment become better citizens. 



A lady inquired concerning the winter covering of perennial 

 plants and also how to exterminate the cutworm. 



The Lecturer replied that perennial plants had better not be 

 covered until the ground was frozen, even if not until January, 

 and the same was true of bulbs. If covered before freezing the 

 ground is likely to be unevenly frozen and in places may become 

 too moist. 



The cutworm, as is well known, is nocturnal in its habits and is 

 especially destructive after a hot day. There is a preparation 

 containing corrosive sublimate which will kill the cutworm but 

 it is too expensive. A simple and effective remedy is to mix a 

 preparation of cornmeal or bran, softened with molasses and water, 

 to which is added a few tablespoonfuls of Paris green or arsenic. 

 Lay this on leaves or pieces of wood, or scatter it about the plants 

 in the evening. To avoid danger of poisoning birds or domestic 

 animals it would be safer to cover the poison with a board. 



The Lecturer said that there was another pest that was very 

 troublesome in strawberry growing. It was the white grub, the 

 larva of the May beetle or June bug, which eats all around the 

 roots and is a difficult insect to reach by ordinary means as it 

 burrows deep in the ground. 



Samuel H. Warren said that he had grown strawberries for 56 

 years and had had much experience with the white grub, so trouble- 

 some to strawberry growers. The grub is most plentiful in newly 

 plowed grassland. Grass roots are their food before the sod is 

 turned and it is not advisable to plant strawberries on such land 

 for a few years until these bugs are eradicated. 



Fall plowing has been recommended but as the bug goes below 

 the frost line in freezing weather he has found that method ineffec- 

 tual. He has found that picking them out by hand during fre- 

 quent plowings of the ground had rid his garden of them. There 



