GAEDEN INSECTS. 61 



for in some seasons plants of squash, cucumber, melons, 

 pumpkin, having six or seven leaves large as a man's 

 hand, are completely eaten off in a single day. Appli- 

 cations of Paris green, land plaster, slaked lime, must 

 all be so applied as to reach the under side of the leaf as 

 well as the top. 



In gardens an effective way to keep off the mature 

 flying beetles is to cover the seed hills at once, after 

 planting, with square or circular frames, covered with 

 mosquito netting, that the young plants may be protected 

 from the beetles. The gardener may conclude he has 

 conquered, but not so always, for the eggs of the same 

 beetle, deposited in the earth, now hatched by the heat 

 of the sun, develop larvae, a little white worm, which, 

 commencing at the vines under ground, pierce the stems 

 through and through, to their utter destruction, and to 

 the gardener's dismay. We recommend Hammond's 

 slug shot to destroy the first brood of beetles which ap- 

 pears. This done, no larvae will follow. 



On Eeedland Farm the Landreths, cultivating large 

 breadths of watermelons and cantelonpes, always have 

 to replant, more or less, on account of the ravages of 

 this troublesome insect, sometimes replanting five or six 

 times, using an aggregate of nine or ten pounds of the 

 seed to the acre before obtaining a complete growth, a 

 very expensive process, increased cost of labor, of seed, 

 and the risk of a delayed crop. On large areas the best 

 remedy against this pest is slug shot, or Paris green, 

 mixed with forty parts of land plaster or flour, and ap- 

 plied as often as it is washed off. Experiments made 

 at Bloomsdale Farm have conclusively shown that 

 various vine plants have different degrees of resistance 

 to the noxious effects of Paris green, squashes being the 

 strongest, pumpkins next, then cucumber, water melons 

 and canteloupes least of all. 



As the French wine growers kill the phylloxera 

 insect feeding on the roots of the grape by the poisonous 



