130 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



tissues of other plants. These fungi include the scabs, the 

 smuts, and the blights. They do not sound pretty ; nor are 

 they. Each fungus falls upon its own pet victims. Potatoes 

 are commonly attacked by a scab which appears sometimes 

 on the tuber itself and sometimes on the soil surrounding it. 

 This is easily recognized. If the scab is already established 

 upon the potato, a good sun bath given to a pile of potatoes 

 all ready for planting will work a cure. Potato plants suffer 

 from a blight also. This blight looks like a white mildew, 

 and it may be detected on the stem and leaves. Celery too 

 suffers from a blight or rust, and so do beans. On beans 

 the rust attacks both leaves and pods in wet weather, so one 

 must never brush against them when they are covered by 

 dew. Various sprays are recommended for driving away the 

 villains ; Bordeaux mixture is one. Corn smut is a serious 

 malady which takes the form of a swelling that may appear 

 on any part of the plant system. Underneath the silvery 

 white coating there will be noticed a black mass filled with 

 fibers. Get rid of these at all costs, lest they spread. Burning 

 is the only sure way. 



Every plant, moreover, has its insect followers. But again 

 no gardener, amiable though he may be, will voluntarily go 

 shares with animals, who, like himself, enjoy a delicious salad. 

 To be sure, since many of us, men and beasts, have such 

 similar gastronomic tastes, it is not becoming in humankind 

 to be too supercilious. And yet it is fair play to get ahead of 

 these insects if you can. Sometimes the game is ours ; not 

 infrequently it is theirs. It is a significant comment that in 

 all probability not a single pest wrestled with by man, since 

 he came to abide on this earth of ours, has ever been stamped 

 out. At the present time six hundred million dollars' worth, 

 at the very least, of foodstuffs in the United States is being 

 destroyed yearly by insects. It really amounts to paying a 



