PRACTICAL STUDY OF GARDENING 213 



it was found that these insects could be readily controlled, 

 large areas being successfully treated. The usual method 

 of control is by the use of poisoned baits. 



Take a bushel of dry bran, add one pound of arsenic 

 or Paris green, and mix it thoroughly into a mash with 

 eight gallons of water, in which has been stirred half a 

 gallon of molasses. After the mash has stood several 

 hours, scatter it in lumps of about the size of a marble 

 over the fields where injury is beginning to appear and 

 about the bases of the plants set out. Apply late in the 

 day so as to place the poison about the plants over night, 

 which is the time when the cut worms are active. Apply 

 a second time if necessary. Where garden maggots or 

 other small insects have appeared, treat the soil with 

 tobacco or kerosene emulsion. 



Cucumbers and squash have the same enemies, but the 

 beetle will leave the cucumber for the squash, which 

 induces some growers to plant a few squash-vines near 

 cucumbers in order to trap the beetles. 



Late blight of potatoes causes extremely heavy damage 

 some years, the extent depending largely upon weather 

 conditions. It is most likely to appear during damp, 

 sultry weather in August and September. Where the 

 disease has been prevalent in recent seasons the only 

 safe method is to spray thoroughly throughout the sum- 

 mer so as to ward off possible attacks. The disease is 

 caused by a parasitic fungus which attacks the stems 

 and under portions of the leaves, spreading in favorable 

 weather with extreme rapidity and sometimes wilting an 

 entire field in the course of 48 hours. It can scarcely be 

 checked by spraying, but its appearance can be prevented 

 by this method. 



