Insects in the Garden 317 



harmless. If this were true, white hellebore would be 

 especially valuable for use on salad vegetables. There 

 is, however, considerable doubt that it becomes harm- 

 less in a short time, and for this reason its application 

 on leaves that are to be used as food is to be safe- 

 guarded, as noted in the next paragraph. 



Caution. Paris green, arsenate of lead, and white 

 hellebore are deadly poisons to human beings. All 

 supplies of these materials should be kept where children 

 cannot obtain them. In the home garden, poisons should 

 be used only when no other means are effective, and then 

 only by experienced persons. 



When these poisons are used in the dust form, children 

 should be careful not to get dust in their own faces or 

 in the faces of others. Leafy crops should be sprayed 

 with poisons only when young, long before they are to be 

 used as food. Poisons should not be applied to cabbages 

 after the heads are beginning to form. 



Cutworms. Cutworms often do much damage by 

 chewing through and cutting off the tender stems of 

 young plants of beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, sweet 

 potatoes, and cabbages. These " worms " are the cater- 

 pillars or larvae of night-flying moths. During summer 

 evenings they often fly through open windows into a 

 room and flit about a lighted lamp. 



The eggs are laid in late summer; the young cater- 

 pillars that soon hatch from them feed during autumn 

 chiefly on the roots of grasses, and then live over winter 

 as half-grown caterpillars. Hence cutworms are almost 

 sure to be present in a garden that was in sod the previous 

 year. In the spring they crawl over the surface of the 



