120 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



in early spring. I am told by an entomologist that they are the 

 larvae of some small Bibio flies, and are not particularly in- 

 jurious, as they feed upon dead leaves and decaying vegeta- 

 tion. I am glad they have carrion tastes, for it disturbed me 

 not a little to find whole nests of these vermin every spring, a 

 sort of vanguard of the hordes that I have to combat later. 

 As they have no criminal record, I'll dismiss them for worse 

 offenders. 



In dry seasons the most destructive worm is the brownish 

 gray, sometimes bluish lead-colored cutworm, varying from 

 half an inch to an inch and a half long. Whenever you see a 

 young plant cut off just above the ground, and withering in 

 the sun, you may know it is the work of the cutworm. Take 

 any weapon you can find a hairpin, if no other is at hand 

 and stir the earth slightly within a few inches of the plant, and 

 you will find the worm just below the surface of the earth. It 

 never goes deep, nor far. Do not throw it over the wall, but 

 kill it on the spot. Sweet peas, sweet alyssum, gypsophila and 

 coreopsis are its favorite diet among annuals; among peren- 

 nials, young larkspurs, lychnis, lupines, lily of the valley, gla- 

 diolus, and pansy; and it dotes on a two-year-old Eremurus. 

 Before planting a bed, or before anything is up in it, the ad- 

 vice is to spread a poisoned bait made of one part of Paris 

 green to fifty parts of dry bran, placed in tiny piles over the 

 ground in the afternoon and evening. Also to dip fresh young 

 clover, pigweed, mullein or peppergrass in a solution of one 

 part of Paris green to one hundred parts of water. As cut- 

 worms eat at night, it is also recommended to go out with a 

 lantern and gather the harvest. I never could understand why 

 a burglar's outfit of lantern and weapons were necessary, 

 when the good honest sun will find the culprit eating almost 

 any hour of the day and when not eating, snoozing in torpid 

 idleness near his table. The cutworm never indulges in a con- 



