TROUBLE 263 



rain is certain, and if the meek eyes of the Chickweed 

 close on a clear day, rain may be expected before many 

 hours. 



INSECT PESTS AND FUNGOUS DISEASES 



In considering these animal and vegetable enemies of 

 our plants it is well to remember that plants in lusty 

 health are much less liable to succumb to disorder than 

 those in a weak and depleted condition. Here, as else- 

 where, an ounce of prevention is the better course. 



Cutworms. Disgusting, fat grayish worms about an 

 inch long. Its ogrish vocation is to bite off the tops of 

 promising young plants. It may frequently be found 

 callously sleeping just beneath the soil at the foot of its 

 victim. Let no mercy temper your justice. In culti- 

 vating the soil in spring keep a sharp lookout for cut- 

 worms and grubs. Little piles of bran made into a 

 paste with sugar and water and seasoned with Paris 

 Green will prove a fatal attraction. Deep holes dug at 

 short intervals among young plants will often prove 

 their undoing, for they are stupid fellows and falling in 

 are unable to get out. 



White Grub. Not unlike the cutworm, but lighter in 

 colour and more difficult to get at, as it works at the 

 roots of the plants, injuring them fatally. The white 

 grub is most prevalent where there is fresh manure. The 

 only way I know of to get rid of it is to turn it out of 

 the soil and destroy it. 



