Gardening for Amateurs 



IIOI 



gas lime. When the pest enters the garden 

 the part infested should immediately be 

 limed, at the rate of about 3 Ib. of quicklime 

 per square yard. The disease is practically 

 unknown in soils rich in lime. Sour soil 

 must be drained, and all seeds and roots from 

 plants bearing the disease carefully burned ; 

 do not move the soil about, for a little carried 

 on the roots has been known to bear infection 

 to another part of the garden. Soil sterilised 

 by heating is also free of the fungus, and this 

 offers an effective preventive for potting soils 

 and composts for the frame or seed-bed. 



The amateur who buys small lots of Wall- 

 flowers, Cabbages, and the like, should mix 

 up in a pail a handful each of slaked lime, 

 soot and soil, then add sufficient water to 

 make this into a creamy paste-like paint. 

 Whenever the plants are bought the roots 

 should be stirred round in this, and even left 

 in it for some time before planting. Also, 

 if a plant shows signs of dying, pull it up, 

 and should club root be the cause, burn it 

 and dress the surrounding soil heavily with 

 lime. Practise rotation of crops, and never 

 allow the disease to spread by imagining that 

 as only an odd plant is attacked the pest is 

 not worth attention. 



Millipedes and Centipedes. - Though 

 not actually belonging to the insect family, 

 millipedes and centipedes are closely related 

 to it, and are often classified in horticultural 

 books among the " soil insects." They 

 differ from the true insects, however, in 

 having a head attached to a number of 

 regular segments or rings, all of which bear 

 one or two pairs of legs ; indeed, the large 

 number of legs which these members of the 

 animal kingdom have give them their com- 

 mon name. Neither of them at any period of 

 their lives have wings another distinguishing 

 feature and they do not pass through the 

 interesting cycle of changes common to most 

 insects. Now, as centipedes are friends of 

 the gardener, and millipedes more or less 

 injurious, it behoves every tiller of the soil 

 to know wherein they differ. Briefly sum- 

 marised the differences are as follow : 



Centipedes have long feelers on their heads, 

 while millipedes have shorter ones ; the 

 former have a flat body, but the latter are 

 mostly rounded, and not unlike the familiar 

 wire worms (hence often called " false wire- 



worms "). Centipedes are generally of a 

 reddish orange brown appearance, have a 

 twisting style of movement, two legs on each 

 ring or segment, i.e. one on either side, while 

 millipedes have a different appearance, and 

 four legs to each segment, two on either side. 

 Centipedes have poison claws, and feed on 

 insects, grubs, worms, slugs, and the like ; 

 millipedes, on the other hand, have no poison 

 claws, and feed on vegetable matter, the 

 roots of plants, tubers, corms and bulbs. 



Centipedes should never be destroyed, and 

 after one or two have been carefully ex- 

 amined the gardener will be able to identify 

 its kind by a mere glance at the excited little 

 animals laid bare during digging. Millipedes 

 are to be found in the same haunts as centi- 

 pedes, i.e. under stones, in the soil, at the 

 roots of plants, in leaf -mould, in spent 

 manure, in compost heaps, etc., and they 

 may be regarded as pests to be got rid of. 

 Numerous kinds of millipedes may be 

 noticed ; some are short, others long and 

 wiry, some curl up when disturbed, while 

 others seem greatly excited and active, but 

 almost all are alike destructive to vegetation 

 in the soil. Very often leaf-mould serves 

 to spread these pests, for decaying leaves offer 

 to them a harbourage of the most attractive 

 kind, and well-rotted manure or spent 

 mulchings frequently contain quite a large 

 number of these pests. 



Fortunately there are many easy methods 

 of eradicating millipedes, or at least reducing 

 their numbers to such an extent that no 

 appreciable damage is done. Soot or lime 

 employed in the usual way as top dressings 

 or else lightly forked into the soil are ex- 

 cellent cures. Solutions of nitrate of soda or 

 of salt, an ounce to the gallon, clear away 

 many, but, naturally, are liquids that must 

 be used with care. Soil fumigants like 

 Vaporite, Kilogrub, Ausfixtin, and Vertox 

 are certain remedies when applied as directed 

 on the packages ; soil sterilisation, as advised 

 in another chapter, spells death to millipedes 

 as well as to other pests, and solutions of 

 formalin in water or ammonia in water, 

 made up as directed there, kill every one ; 

 these can only be used when the border is 

 vacant. Heaps of leaf-mould may be treated 

 in any of these ways, or with boiling water, 

 but perhaps the best plan of all is to pour 



