Insects and Diseases i6 



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the latter until as late as possible. The early squash 

 vines, which act as a trap, are pulled and burned. 



Last season almost half the vines in one of my 

 pieces w^ere attacked after many of the squashes 

 were large enough to eat. With a little practice I 

 was able to locate the borer's exact position, shown 

 by a spot in the stalk where the flesh was soft, and 

 of a slightly different color. With a thin, sharp 

 knife-blade the vines were carefully slit lengthwise 

 on this spot, the borer extracted and killed and the 

 vines in almost every instance speedily recovered. 

 Another method is to root the vines by heaping 

 moist earth over several of the leaf joints, when the 

 vines have attained sufficient length. 



Cabbage-caterpillar: — This small green worm, 

 which hatches upon the leaves and in the forming 

 heads of cabbage and other vegetables of the cab- 

 bage group, comes from the eggs laid by the com- 

 mon white or yellow butterfly of early spring. Pick 

 off all that are visible, and spray with kerosene emul- 

 sion if the heads have not begun to form. If they 

 have, use hellebore instead. The caterpillar or worm 

 of tomatoes is a large green voracious one, men- 

 tioned on page 139. Hand-picking is the only rem- 

 edy. 



Club-root: — This is a parasitical disease attacking 

 the cabbage group, especially in ground where these 

 crops succeed each other. Lime both soil and seed- 



