288 THE beginner's garden book 



perhaps three or four inches underground. Sometimes, when 

 a grub has killed a plant, he may be found on a straight line 

 to the nearest living one. 



But the cutworm is the worst underground enemy. He 

 lives underground, but comes out at night and cuts plants 

 close above the surface. In order to prevent this, on land 

 which is to be planted with a specially nice crop, such as 

 asters or tomatoes, bait for cutworms before the plants are set. 

 To do this, mix together bran, molasses, and arsenate of 



gsg aags^ MgftlK- \e&d or Paris green, to make a sweetish, 



gjpfwT^-^Sfts sticky mass. Put bits of this every- 



5a .' ^jsSBI where over the ground. Then when 



ffp^^BHJsBjL y° u se t the plants, give them collars. 



: Jgl ''^^^Kr' That is, wrap loosely about the stem, 



SlB^ ' 7 ? j£^- f° r :in mcn b° tn above ground and be- 



TfJ^^sS^^^^S^ low, a thickness of paper. Newspaper 



'**" will do, but brown paper looks better. 



Grub, big for a™ The cutworm will not cut through this. 

 Collars can be used even on plants 

 which have no stems, such as lettuce or young asters. If cut- 

 worms injure plants which have been grown from seed, 

 scatter the bait again, but also dig for the villains. They 

 can often be found, tightly curled up caterpillars, close under 

 the surface near the plants which they have killed. 



A general remedy for all plant enemies that spend the 

 winter in the ground (cutworms, grubs, wire-worms, rose- 

 bugs) is to plow or spade the garden very late, just before 

 winter. The pupae or the larvae will be broken from the 

 snug cases which they have made and will often be killed by 

 the winter. 



Diseases are sometimes much more troublesome than 

 insects, mostly because we allow them to get started, and they 

 are hard to stop. The best way is to prevent their beginning. 



