238 GARDEN FARMING 



is said to be especially distasteful to this insect. Tobacco dust 

 sprinkled on the hills, particularly when the soil is moist, also has 

 the advantage of being a good repellent, and in addition acts as a 

 fertilizer and mulch for the plant. Direct remedies must be applied 

 repeatedly, when rainfall necessitates their renewal, until the plants 

 have obtained a good start or the insects have disappeared. 



A considerable degree of exemption from injury results from the 

 stimulation of a crop by heavy manuring and frequent cultivation. 

 Fertilizers should be productive of the same results. 



Through the exercise of good judgment in planting and the 

 combined efforts of growers throughout the country in the use of 

 any of the above-mentioned remedies, the total damage from the 

 striped cucumber beetle should be greatly lessened. 



Diseases. In the South the cucumber is affected by two fungous 

 diseases which are very destructive mildew and blight. The only 

 means of treating these in the field at the present time is to 

 spray the plants persistently with Bordeaux mixture from the time 

 the runners are a foot in length until the crop is harvested, repeating 

 the treatment every ten days during ordinary weather, and if it is 

 hot and muggy with frequent showers, much oftener than this, for 

 it is during such weather that these diseases are most prevalent. 



One of the cheapest and best devices for spraying is a barrel 

 mounted on a two-wheeled truck that can be drawn by horses, 

 coupled far apart so that the wheels will straddle a row of cucum- 

 bers. The man who operates the pump can drive the team. The 

 pump should have a double-discharge orifice from which two lines of 

 hose can be carried over swinging booms pivoted at the bottom near 

 the base of the barrel, and fastened at the top at an angle which 

 will allow them to swing both forward and backward. Sufficient 

 length of hose should be provided to allow the nozzle man, standing 

 on the ground with an extension pole in hand, to walk 2 5 or 30 feet 

 in each direction. From either side of the spraying device a man 

 with a double-discharge Vermorell nozzle attached to an extension 

 pole can spray from 6 to 8 rows of cucumbers each time the field is 

 crossed. With such a device the cost of spraying is greatly reduced 

 and, with due care on the part of the nozzle man, a more perfect 

 treatment can be given than by any automatic device yet designed. 



For directions as to making the Bordeaux mixture see page 14. 



