Pests and Remedies 133 



be the proverbial pint and is sufficient to treat 

 thirty-two holes enough to protect fourteen 

 dahlia plants set in a double row. 



Another legless enemy is the stem-borer, of 

 whose presence we can never be aware until 

 suddenly the top of a well-grown dahlia plant 

 droops and dies. On examining the stalk, it is 

 easy to find a tiny hole which he has pierced in 

 order to enter. Cutting down the dead part of 

 the bush we find him in the hollow stalk; two 

 inches long and as plump as your little finger, 

 having fattened deliberately upon the inner 

 lining of the "water-pipe." The dahlia plant 

 may sometimes be saved without cutting back 

 if the damage is discovered before it has gone too 

 far. Make a slit in the stalk just below the hole 

 for he is quick to know that you are after him, 

 and will drop to the bottom of the section he 

 inhabits as soon as the plant is disturbed and 

 fish him out with a wire. The slit may be tied 

 together with a bit of soft string around the stem, 

 and usually heals in a day or two, when the 

 string should be removed. 



Another excellent method of treating borers is 

 to puncture a small round hole at the top of the 

 section inhabited by the borer, and with a 

 medicine dropper flood the section with a weak 

 solution of arsenate of lead about half the 



