SQUASH BORER ONION MAGGOT. 269 



and then wilt and finally die, and then another and another goes 

 down, until the whole hill is destroyed. This small worm is the 

 larva of the striped beetle. The past season we have found a remedy 

 which is effective, both to entirely prevent the damage, or to arrest 

 its course when it is begun. It is to make a mixture of one gill of 

 kerosene oil with a solution of one pound of common yellow soap in 

 one gallon of hot water; the whole is shaken into an emulsion, and 

 a small quantity of it is poured about the roots in each hill. 



THE SQUASH BORER. 



When the leaves of a squash plant are seen to wilt, the cause may 

 be found by searching along the vines, when a scar may be perceived 

 near a joint. If the stem is slit with a small knife above the scar, a 

 white grub, or two or three, may be discovered in the hollow stem. 

 These are the Squash Borers, and are the larvae of a yellowish moth, 

 which is akin to the dahlia stalk borer. It does not injure the vine 

 to thus slit it and remove the grubs, and if the joints of the vine are 

 covered with soil, and the kerosene emulsion sprayed over the stems, 

 these will serve as a preventive of the injury. The vines will root at 

 the joints, and the main stem may be then wholly destroyed without 

 stopping the growth of the plant. 



THE ONION MAGGOT. 



This pest, which greatly annoys onion growers, is the larva of a 

 small fly related to the radish fly. The larva is a small white grub, 

 which eats its way into the bulb and destroys it. The fly appears 

 late in June/ and to prevent damage by it the onion grower may 

 dust the rows with fine lime or soot, or the strong smelling super- 

 phosphate of lime previously mentioned. This fly is closely related 

 to the parent of the CABBAGE BOOT MAGGOT, which causes club-root in 

 this plant. Similar precautions may be also taken for this pest. 

 Large applications of lime or gypsum to the soil have been found 

 useful to repel the attacks of all the different species of these root 

 flies. Continuous growing of onions, cabbage or turnips on the same 

 ground encourages the attacks of these pests. 



CUT WORMS. 



Perhaps there is no other pest that is so irritating to the farmer as 

 the worm which comes in the night and cuts down his young corn, 

 cabbage and peas, and cuts off the fruit stalks of the strawberries 



