110 DISEASES OF GINSENG. 



C H AFTER XXVII. 

 INSECTS. Fortunately there are but few kinds of insects that 

 attack ginseng, either plant or root. Cutworms sometimes are a 

 little troublesome in early spring. They attack the stems of the 

 young plants near the surface of the ground when the plants first 

 come up; later on as the stems harden, no more damage is done by 

 them. 



Slugs at times attack the leaves of the plant, eating holes 

 into the leaves. They work mostly at night or in very dark days. 

 Slugs prefer dark, moist places, and in a well ventilated garden 

 they are not likelj' to do much, if any, damage. 



The bug or worm has often been wrongfully accused of 

 causing disease. He has been charged up with much of which he 

 is not guilty. Most of the diseases that are commonly charged 

 up as having been caused by insects, have really been caused by 

 fungi or bacteria. The reason for this may be that the isolated 

 sjiores of fungi and bacteria are microscopic i. e. invisible to the 

 naked eye. Often when the grower examines a diseased root or 

 plant, especially such as have advanced to a state of putrification, 

 he finds present insects or animal life of some kind, and he at 

 once charges the cause of the trouble to'these, while, in reality, the 

 cause is due to a previous attack by fungi or bacteria which has 

 killed the plant or root, and the worms found present have subse- 

 quently come to feed on the decaying matter. 



A good insecticide for destroying worms inhabiting the 

 soil is Kainite. At least, it is considered a good insecticide by 



