170 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1909 



GARDEN 



Four Ways of Catching the 

 Mole 



MOLES will devour whole rows of garden and 

 sweet peas, gorge upon the succulent roots 

 of asparagus, lift the tough roots of strawberry 

 plants clear out of the ground, and utterly ruin beds 

 of lilies, peonies, and various bulbous and tuberous 

 plants. They do their work mostly in the early 

 morning or late afternoon; and when, by the 

 upheaving of the soil, one is discovered at work, 

 quickly sink a spade its full depth into the soil 

 back of the moving portion, throw out the soil, and 

 the mole can be easily killed. There are a few 

 excellent mole traps, easily set without danger, 

 which may be placed in hotbeds without disturbing 

 the runways. Instructions for> their use accom- 

 pany these traps. In setting one, be sure to wear 

 leather gloves to prevent your hands from coming 

 in contact with either the trap or the soil in its 

 vicinity, for moles are very keen of scent. 



CALCIUM CARBIDE 



Calcium carbide is the preparation of lime used 

 in generating acetylene gas and is efficacious in 

 driving away the moles. Make openings at 

 intervals in the runs with a sharp, round stick, 

 and fill with the carbide crystals, covering at once 

 with soil. Keep the hands perfectly dry, as the 

 lime slacks and burns when moistened. It is better 

 to wear leather gloves. 



For all points difficult to reach — such as rocky 

 grounds and artificial rock work, tunneled with 

 inaccessible runs, and also for large areas — this 

 method cannot be applied. In such cases the gas, 

 which is highly offensive as well as poisonous, can 

 be generated in the runs. Open them carefully 

 at frequent intervals, as far as possible from the 

 roots of plants, dropping into each opening a 

 handful of calcium carbide crystals, and work 

 them carefully in the run so as to avoid stopping 

 up the tunnel with dirt. Press a stone over 

 each opening and cover with a handful of soil, 

 patting it down to prevent the gas from escap- 

 ing. Insert a hose into the run and turn on the 

 water until the run is flooded, being ready with a 

 handful of soil to prevent the gas from breaking 

 through at any point and thus escaping. The two 

 things to especially guard against are stopping 

 up the run with soil while working the crystals 

 down, and allowing the gas to escape. 



This method was entirely satisfactory in a large, 

 irregular planting of peonies in a rocky border 

 completely tunnelled with mole runs. The border 

 was also thickly planted with gladioli and poppies, 

 German irises and lilies. Excepting at a few places 

 where the gas broke through to the surface of the 

 soil and scorched the nearby leaves, there was not 

 the slightest trace of damage to the plants. The 

 moles, however, were entirely destroyed. 



EFFECTIVE MEANS FOR SMALL AREAS 



In short runs in moderate-sized beds and other 

 limited areas, use bisulphide of carbon. It is 

 highly volatile and must not be opened near a light 

 nor carried with matches. Make a hole in the 

 ground with a round stick and pour into the hole 

 one or two tablespoonsful of the carbon, quickly 

 cover with a piece of board and heap soil over it. 

 Repeat this at intervals along the run. This kills 

 by suffocation. In long tunnels this would not be 

 practicable, as it would take an immense quantity 



of the fluid and the moles would detect the presence 

 of the carbon before it became dangerous to 

 them. 



As a preventive measure, edge the bulb beds 

 with strips of zinc sheeting, twelve inches in width, 

 kept in place by means of double pegs, allowing 

 it to extend an inch above the surface. A board of 

 the same width will serve the purpose. Avoid 

 openings at the joinings and the corners wide 

 enough to allow a mole to enter. 



Moles are supposed to tunnel at about six inches 

 depth, and bricks sunk lengthwise around beds 

 have usually proved a successful barrier, but in 

 times of drouth they will sometimes go deeper in 

 search of moist ground for easier digging. An 

 ordinary wooden box of proper height, with the 

 bottom removed, serves to protect isolated clumps 

 of tuberous or bulbous plants. 



This protective work may be done at any time 

 of the year when the ground is not frozen, and any 

 runs within beds to be so enclosed, should be 

 thoroughly treated before this work is begun. 

 Moles may be temporarily driven from beds by 

 pushing balls of cotton saturated with kerosene 

 down into the run, and I have kept closely planted 

 beds cleared for the season by this means. 



Iowa. Ward MacLeod. 



Spray Now for the Codling Moth 



UNDOUBTEDLY the greatest amount of 

 fruit destruction is done by the codling moth 

 (Carpocapsa pomoiielld). The eggs of this insect 

 are laid in the spring and the larva, as it hatches, 

 finds and enters the calyx of the blossom, which 

 eventually closes about it. There the larva feeds 

 until full grown, when it passes out through the 

 apple and drops to the ground. 



The most general method of attack is to spray 



"When the calyx is closed, it is too late to spray 

 for the codling moth. It should have been done 

 just after the blossoms fell 



with Paris green (one-quarter pound to fifty 

 gallons of water) or Bordeaux mixture (one-half 

 pound to fifty gallons of water). The first applica- 

 tion should be made just before the blossoms open, 

 and the second after the petals have fallen. Spray- 

 ing will not accomplish anything after the calyx 

 has closed. 



Connecticut. Samuel Jackson. 



How to Prevent Spruce Galls 



THE spruce gall (often called "pineapple" 

 gall) is a brownish formation about an inch 

 long, somewhat resembling a fir cone. The aphis 

 (Chermes abietis) which causes this appears in 

 April, or as soon as the warm spring days come. 

 It attaches itself to the base of a young leaf, usually 

 at the junction of two branches, where the eggs are 

 laid in great masses. 



The gall is formed by the larvas fastening them- 

 selves to the surrounding parts of the leaves and 

 shoots as they hatch, causing them to swell. The 

 gall sometimes completely surrounds the shoot 

 where the eggs ha\je been laid; at other times it 

 develops only on one side. It cripples the shoot, 

 and if allowed to spread will, in time, completely 



The spruce gall or pineapple gall much resembles 

 a little cone. Spray with kerosene emulsion 



strip a tree of its foliage. Trees in this condition 

 are very susceptible to bark insects, particularly 

 the bark borer; if a spruce or pine is thus afflicted, 

 no further foliage will be produced that year and 

 it is sometimes three or four years before the tree 

 really recovers. 



The only method of attack is to spray the trees 

 early in April with kerosene emulsion, or some 

 other oily mixture — the same that is used for any 

 other species of plant lice. 



New York. G. S. J. 



What Makes Plants Wilt ? 



THE striped cucumber beetle is a common 

 pest in gardens, being particularly injurious 

 to cucurbits and displaying special fondness for 

 cucumbers in particular. The principal injury 

 to these plants is caused by the -beetles devouring 

 the young plants as they appear above ground, or by 

 even entering the soil and feeding upon them 

 before they have fairly got into the sunlight. The 

 larva? also feed upon the roots and in some instances 

 probably cause considerable injury. The beetles 

 are known to feed upon a large number of other 

 plants such as coreopsis, dahlias, sunflowers, 

 rudbeckia, though so far as known, larval injury 

 to the roots is not so general. 



The injuries caused by this insect may often be 

 confused with those caused by the stalk borer, a 

 species which attacks various thick-stalked plants, 

 and in the case of smaller ones would undoubtedly 

 continue its boring to the ground and result in 

 the shriveling of the entire plant attacked. Paris 

 green or other applications would be totally inef- 

 fective if it was this latter insect, because the larva 

 bores in the stem out of reach of any applica- 

 tions. Slitting infested stems will reveal at once 

 whether some insect has been boring therein, 

 and if it is a brownish, white-striped caterpillar 

 there would be no doubt as to its being the stalk 

 borer. 



An examination of the roots, if the trouble is 

 there, might result in finding minute, white larvae 

 of some kind or other feeding upon the same. In 

 that case I should be inclined to attribute wilting 

 to the young of the cucumber beetle. There are 

 also root feeders, prominent among which may be 

 mentioned white grubs which might cause the trouble. 



The cucumber beetles upon the plants can be 

 driven away or killed by dusting the same tho- 

 roughly with land plaster, ashes, or any such dry 

 material or, better still, spraying with a poisoned 

 Bordeaux 'mixture, making the application rather 

 thick, so that the insects may be warded off to a 

 considerable extent. Those that persist in attempt- 

 ing to feed will undoubtedly succumb to the poison. 



Still another insect, the tarnished plant bug, may 

 produce wilting of the stems and is about the size 

 of the striped cucumber beetle, but its work is 

 confined almost entirely to the tips of the young 

 growth. 



New York. E. P. Felt. 



