GAEDEN DIFFICULTIES AND HOW TO MEET THEM 



may be grouped into three classes: first, those that may be 

 killed by direct assault by turning upon them the deadly 

 batteries of various noisome sprays; second, those whose 

 bodies are proof against such attacks and must be reached 

 in subtler fashion, through their appetites — by poisoning their 

 food; third, those which ought to let themselves be killed by 

 either of these methods and will not, and require on the part 

 of the gardener personal work and plenty of it. 



Insects Requiring Personal Work 



The Rose-Beetle. — ^Perhaps the most exasperating of those 

 insects which refuse to come and be killed by the most ex- 

 actly prepared insecticide is the rose-beetle or rose-bug. Upon 

 him, with varying degrees of success, are turned the weapons 

 of the gardener's arsenal: whale-oil soap, kerosene emulsion, 

 hme whitewash, hot water at a temperature of from 125 de- 

 grees to 130 degrees Fahrenheit — these will sometimes lessen 

 his fervor, but any insecticide strong enough to kill the rose- 

 bug injures the roses, and the only sure remedy is the tedious 

 and primitive one of "hand-picking" and dropping each in- 

 sect into a pan of kerosene. Netting like that spread over 

 fruit-trees will sometimes exclude rose-bugs. Many garden- 

 ers set Conspicua magnohas and the white Madame Plantier 

 roses about their rose-gardens as a decoy, for the beetles are 

 fond of these and are more conveniently picked from the white 

 flowers. 



The Cutworm. — ^Another annoying insect is the cutworm. 

 When, without any apparent cause, young asters and lark- 

 spurs begin to droop and wither, then, without waiting until 

 the stalk falls (being neatly cut off at the ground surface), 

 take a pot-label or an old jack-knife and poke carefully about 

 the stalk an inch below the surface and you will find the sinner. 



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