Pests and Remedies 133 



be tiie proverbial pint and is sufficient to treat 

 thirty-two holes — enough to protect fourteen 

 dahlia plants set in a double row. 



Another legless enemy is the stem-borer, of 

 whose presence we can never be aware until 

 suddenly the top of a well-grown dahlia plant 

 droops and dies. On examining the stalk, it is 

 easy to find a tiny hole which he has pierced in 

 order to enter. Cutting down the dead part of 

 the bush we find him in the hollow stalk; two 

 inches long and as plump as your little finger, 

 having fattened deliberately upon the inner 

 lining of the "water-pipe." The dahlia plant 

 may sometimes be saved without cutting back 

 if the damage is discovered before it has gone too 

 far. Make a slit in the stalk just below the hole 

 — ^for he is quick to know that you are after him, 

 and will drop to the bottom of the section he 

 inhabits as soon as the plant is disturbed — and 

 fish him out with a wire. The slit may be tied 

 together with a bit of soft string around the stem, 

 and usually heals in a day or two, when the 

 string should be removed. 



Another excellent method of treating borers is 

 to puncture a small round hole at the top of the 

 section inhabited by the borer, and with a 

 medicine dropper flood the section with a weak 

 solution of arsenate of lead — ^about half the 



