INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES 61 



on the corn and squashes may sometimes be en- 

 tirely disposed of by soot or tobacco. Scatter a 

 handful about the hill of corn early and place a 

 little in the soil around the squash plants. Corn- 

 meal has been used as a deterrent for the pests 

 that gnaw, as also has road dust. Salt acts as a 

 repellent and as a poison in ridding the cabbages 

 of worms and the lettuce, sometimes, of snails. 

 Lime spread over the surface helps to dispose of 

 injurious life in the soil. It tends to kill the un- 

 hatched eggs and the Iarva3. 



Cultivation alone is of real value against in- 

 sects. Merely stirring the soil close to the squash 

 stems carefully with the finger, now and then, 

 will usually prevent trouble with cutworms. It 

 will do the same for tomatoes and cauliflower. 

 Many a cutworm and grub has never even hatched 

 for lack of opportunity. A stiff water spray from 

 the hose will clean the plants of aphids, especially 

 the sluggish wingless forms that collect on the 

 leaves of the limas and spoil the appearance of 

 the lettuce and gorge themselves on the peas. 

 Whipped off by the hard fine spray, they seem 

 unable to get back. Stirring the soil beneath them 

 makes a finish of their depredation by smothering. 

 All these deterrent methods will be of value. 



Whenever it can be done, the simple method of 

 hand-picking is the surest and safest means of 

 ridding the garden of injurious live things. Whip 

 off the potato beetles and the bugs and the cur- 



