326 



T HE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Jolt, 1917 



Geneva, on "Bordeaux Injury," by Prof. 

 U. P. Hedrick. Unfortunately, though I 

 have been able to secure a copy of this bulle- 

 tin, I understand that it is out of print. 



I remember that last year, when my russet- 

 ing was very bad, we had a great deal of rain 

 in the early summer. Rain, in fact, followed 

 our spraying at the time of the falling of the 

 blossoms. This may have had a good deal to 

 do with it, but I am inclined to think that the 

 best way is to omit the bordeaux mixture to 

 be on the safe side. 



In conclusion, I might add that one of the 

 best monographs on the general subject of 

 spraying is Farmers' Bulletin No. 492, on 

 "The More Important Insect and Fungous 

 Enemies of the Fruit and Foliage of the Ap- 

 ple," by A. L. Quaintance and W. M. Scott. 



Routing Our Common Foes 

 Lawson Melish, Ohio 



AX7"HEN the garden neophyte investi- 

 * * gates the many perils and enemies, 

 which may attack her precious plants, she 

 is apt to become a confirmed pessimist, and 

 decide not to pit her feeble human efforts 

 against such odds; but, luckily no one 

 garden is visited by all the pests, and as I 

 have experienced in my own garden if pre- 

 ventive measures are used, few gardeners 

 will have serious trouble. There are certain 

 pests that each one of 

 us may naturally be 

 expected to meet at 

 some time in almost 

 any garden; and it is 

 of these that I speak. 



For San Jose scale, 

 which seems to have 

 a penchant for fruit 

 trees, and the old 

 garden favorite Fire 

 Bush (Cydonia or 

 Pyrus japonica) as 

 well as many other 

 shrubs of allied fam- 

 ily the preventive is 

 to spray while the 

 trees are dormant 

 (January or Febru- 

 ary) with lime-sulphur 

 solution in any of its 

 forms. Directions for 

 mixing will be found 

 on the can. Be sure 

 that every part of the 

 tree is coated with 

 the solution; for, as 

 someone has said 



"You may as well sit on the porch and rock, 

 as to spray anything halfway." 



Cutworms hide their fat gray bodies under- 

 ground, where they are hard to find; and they 

 have a most vicious habit of biting off the tops 

 of young plants. Three recipes for their 

 destruction are offered: A paste made of bran 

 sugar and water and flavored with paris 

 green lures them to their doom; as does 

 freshly cut clover soaked in arsenate of lead. 

 Either of these baits may be placed in small 

 and tempting piles about the surface of the 

 ground in the evening; or buried just under- 

 ground, near plants the cutworms seem to 

 have designs on. It is said too, by reliable 

 authority, that if two or three holes are made 

 with a sharp pointed stick, near the plants 

 which are being attacked, these stupid worms 

 will fall in and as they are not able to get out, 

 they may then with ease be dug out and de- 

 stroyed. 



The aphis, (green, black, red, or other color 

 fly), may be held in check, and destroyed, by 

 frequent and thorough spraying with any of 

 the proprietary nicotine solutions or oily 

 emulsions which are offered by the seedsmen. 

 Spraying should be done before the leaves 

 of the plant curl, and care should be taken that 

 the solution reaches the under as well as the 

 upper surface of the leaves. Note: The little 

 red ladybug is the natural enemy of the aphis, 

 and is to be encouraged in her good work. 



For use with the regular hose — this holder into which car- 

 tridges are inserted is practical for small quantities 



The wretched black beetle which mobilizes 

 his columns just as the Asters promise their 

 best, may (according to my experience) be 

 sprayed to his Waterloo, with frequent and 

 thorough applications of a weak solution of 

 paris green. 



Wire worms are the ugly little grubs, less 



For field crops there are many types of sprayers on wheels embodying and bettering the idea shown here. Some are quite 



elaborate machines 



than an inch long, which look like bits of rusty 

 wire, and which do considerable damage to 

 the roots of plants. They may be vanquished 

 by using the same clover bait saturated with 

 arsenate of lead, which was recommended for 

 cutworms: or by digging tobacco dust into the 

 ground around the attacked plants, which 

 drives them elsewhere! 



Hand picking is the most effective way of 

 ridding, one's place of the troublesome bag- 

 worm, which hangs on trees and bushes its 

 pendant cradle of larva, which later hatch 

 into the destructive worms which feed on 

 many kinds of trees, both evergreen and de- 

 ciduous. 



Spraying with bordeaux mixture is advised 

 for the following troubles: Hollyhock plants 

 affected with rust, or with the disfiguring red 

 spot on the undersides of the leaves, should 

 be sprayed in April and again in May, or if the 

 rust is not discovered until it has gained 



headway later in the season, all affected 

 leaves should be removed and destroyed, and 

 a thorough spraying given. Monkshood and 

 Delphinium which have been subject to black- 

 ened leaves, may be given two successive 

 sprayings early in the season with bordeaux. 

 When Peonies blacken on the flower stems 

 and buds, a spray of this same solution, with 

 the addition of some of the dry bordeaux 

 dug about the crown of the plant, should prove 

 effective. I used to think that the ants which 

 swarm over the Peony buds, were enemies, 

 but I have found that they do no harm to 

 either flower or plant, and they assemble only 

 fo drink the sticky liquid exuded by the flower 

 ud as it unfolds. 

 Bordeaux is a thorough remedy for mildew 

 on most plants if applied in early stages. 

 Dusting powdered sulphur on the foliage and 

 about the plants is another excellent medicine. 

 The fatal Lily disease may, in a measure, be 

 checked, or prevented by shaking each bulb, 

 before planting, in a bag with some powdered 

 sulphur. If the bulbs are placed on their 

 sides, on a bed made of a trowelful of sand, 

 then covered with another trowelful of sand, 

 before the earth is thrown into the hole, proper 

 drainage will be insured so that the bulb may 

 not be subject to the disastrous decay. 



It would be pleasant not to have to play 

 the loud pedal on all the ills and enemies of the 

 Rose. Two remedies for mildew, bordeaux 

 and powdered sul- 

 phur, have been men- 

 tioned in connection 

 with other plants. 

 Rosarians say with 

 emphasis that the fol- 

 iage of Roses should 

 not be sprinkled in 

 the evening, as the 

 moisture retained on 

 the leaves over night 

 tends to produce mil- 

 dew. Early morning 

 is the time advised for 

 sprinkling. For black 

 leaf spot — the cause of 

 blackening and pre- 

 maturely falling 

 leaves — spray with 

 bordeaux. For aphis 

 spray with some nico- 

 tine solution, fre- 

 quently and thoro- 

 ughly. For the ugly 

 black beetle which 

 finds the heart of your 

 choicest Roses its 

 most delectable food, 

 hand picking in the early morning, into a 

 pan of kerosene, is the surest method of de- 

 struction. 



Of the larger pests, mice, moles and rabbits 

 are perhaps the most disturbing. Mice may 

 be discouraged from eating bulbs during the 

 winter, by planting with the bulbs a generous 

 quantity of moth balls. Moles are such soft, 

 pretty-coated little things that I hate to wage 

 war on them; but they do have an annoying 

 way of working under your best bit of turf, 

 or flower border, and, I must confess it, they 

 do chew up bulbs. Traps may be bought, 

 with directions for catching these little blind 

 creatures, or, if you can catch one at work 

 drive a sharp spade just behind his body and 

 bring him to light for execution. But if he 

 should escape the activities of your spade, 

 let it be said to his credit that he loves a diet 

 of grubs as well as bulbs, so you may, with a 

 clear conscience let him go in peace. 



