316 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1917 



ir "Beware the worm." Unless 

 spraying is done properly no one dare eat 

 an apple in the dark. The worm that 

 might thus furnish part of a meat diet is 

 the larva of the codling moth whose first 

 brood begins operations shortly after the 

 blossoms fall. 1 oward mid-summer the full 

 grown worms eat holes through the green 

 apple and crawl to crevices in the bark and 

 other hiding places where they pupate. While 

 most of them wait until spring to appear, far 

 too many emerge in a few days and lay eggs on 

 the half grown fruit. These are the fellows 

 to "beware." Of course, the most important 

 work is to control the spring brood but in 

 mid-July and early August the later ones may 

 be destroyed by using arsenate of lead. Two 

 pounds in 50 gallons of water (or about an 

 ounce to two gallons). Always make the spray 

 as misty and apply with as much force as the 

 pump will permit. 



ir Those enormous filmy webs inclosing 

 whole branches of apple and some other trees 

 in mid-summer are probably made by the 

 fall web worm, the parent of which laid her 

 eggs on the leaves in June or early July. They 

 are not caused by a second brood of the apple 

 tree tent caterpillar which perhaps stripped the 

 trees bare in May. As soon as the larvae are 

 seen spray with arsenate of lead (one ounce to 

 two gallons of water) especially on the foliage 

 around the outsides of the nests. Unlike the 

 tent caterpillar the web worm larvae feed in- 

 side their nests. The former uses its tent as a 

 sort of den or retreat from which paths of silk 

 are laid to the feeding areas outside. 



ir There's no need to fear those yellow 

 necked caterpillars on the apple trees in 

 July. To be sure when a drove of a dozen or 

 more feed like a flock of sheep side by side a 

 leaf doesn't last long. Often a single twig may 

 be populated by a hundred or more. A 

 lighted rag torch soaked in kerosene will burn 

 them ofFor they may be destroyed by spraying 

 with arsenate of lead, an ounce to two gallons 

 of water. 



ir It's too late now to prevent damage to 

 the plums, cherries, apricots and peaches from 

 curculio, that little worm that makes the 

 fruit ripen and fall prematurely. The pre- 

 ventive spraying should have been done in 

 spring while the fruits were still small. Much 

 may be done, however, to reduce attacks for 

 next year. One of the best means is to keep 

 poultry confined around the trees until after the 

 fruiting season has passed. Chickens are very 

 partial to an insect diet. 



ir Little pin holes in the peach tree 

 trunks and branches, eh? They are made by 

 tiny beetles, borers, of two principal kinds that 

 attack also cherry, plum, and apple trees. 

 If you had noticed earlier, when the trees were 

 first attacked, there were little masses of gum 

 on the stone-fruit trees where the borers were 

 working. While healthy trees well cared for 

 may be attacked, this is not common except 

 where the beetles are very abundant. The 

 trees that usually fall victims are the neglected 

 and ailing ones. They are a menace to the 

 other trees so the sooner they are cut out and 

 burned the better. It is important to burn the 

 trees as soon as cut even using dry fuel or brush 

 to make them burn; for the insects will crawl 

 out if the trees are left whether cut or not. 

 Good cultivation and fertilization of the trees 

 are the best three preventives of this kind of 

 damage because they tend to keep the trees in 



Skirmishing Orders of the Month 



sturdy and so stiff* that no wind will blow 

 them over. They will not need to be 

 staked. 



good health. As a further preventive a coat of 

 thick whitewash applied in early July, October 

 and late March is fairly effective. 



it Brown rot of peach, cherry, apricot and 

 plum is rapidly spread by curculios which gnaw 

 holes in the fruit and leave spores of the 

 disease. To control both the disease and the 

 spreader of it, a spray of self-boiled lime-sul- 

 phur wash and arsenate of lead (an ounce to 

 two gallons of the wash) is effective since the 

 wash destroys the disease and the poison 

 settles the bugs. While the first application 

 should be given as soon as the "shucks" or 

 calyxes fall off the newly formed fruit, yet a 

 thorough spraying in early July will be help- 

 ful. 



ir Slugs on the quince leaves! Probably 

 the same as on pears. Fight them with poison 

 or dust the same as on pears. 



ir Cherries are made "maggoty" by the 

 larvae of fruit flies which lay their eggs beneath 

 the skin just when the fruit is beginning to 

 color. The infested fruits show sunken de- 

 cayed spots above the yellowish white grubs. 

 These maggots crawl out of the fruit and 

 burrow in the ground to pupate until the fol- 

 lowing spring. An effective spray if applied 

 before the eggs are laid is made of five pounds 

 arsenate of lead, three gallons of molasses and 

 one hundred gallons of water — or similar pro- 

 portion. A quart or two of the concoction is 

 enough for a tree. Arsenate of lead alone in 

 water is not effective enough. 



ir Those little steely-blue beetles that 

 hopped off the opening grape buds in May were 

 perhaps more active than you then thought. 

 They were laying eggs all through that month 

 and now (July 1st) their numerous progeny are 

 feeding on the foliage. In about three weeks 

 they'll be full grown and will drop to the 

 ground to pupate for ten days or so before 

 emerging to feed as adults on the foliage. In 

 this last form and during late summer they do 

 little damage; but in spring and in July they 

 are often perfect pests, the early bugs destroy- 

 ing the buds, the larvae gobbling up the leaves. 

 Gathering the adults in shallow pans of kero- 

 sene is as cheap as spraying. The larvae are 

 easily destroyed by arsenate of lead (an ounce 

 to the gallon) in bordeaux mixture. This 

 latter material will hold various grape diseases 

 in check. 



it As soon as the last raspberries and 

 dewberries have been gathered is the time to 

 cut out the stems that have borne fruit. They 

 are useless because they will die next winter. 

 The sooner they are removed the better. It is 

 best to make several cuts of canes that can't be 

 removed without danger of breaking the young 

 stems. As there are often insects and diseases 

 in or on the old stems, burning should be done 

 without delay. 



it Now is the time to prevent sprawling 

 raspberry and blackberry vines for next 

 summer. No, not by staking, but by pinching. 

 As soon as a young stem has grown to the de- 

 sired height, say 24 to 36 inches, use the finger 

 or thumb nail to nip out the terminal bud. To 

 do this properly will require a visit at least once 

 a week from now until early fall; but it will pay 

 because the canes so pinched will become 



ir Now that the late cabbage, cauli- 

 flower, and brussels sprouts have been set 

 out is the time to feed the plants. The ground 

 is drier than in spring so there is less available 

 plant food. Hence the necessity of supplying 

 more so that when a shower comes the plants 

 may have plenty to draw upon as long as the 

 water lasts. While the plants are small, a 

 teaspoonful each of nitrate of soda and acid 

 phosphate to each will be sufficient. As they 

 grow, a second dressing double the size may 

 be given without damage. Always be careful 

 to avoid getting any of these fertilizers on the 

 foliage because they burn. To prove this, put 

 a little on a leaf and after a dewy night or two 

 notice the effect. It is well to spread the 

 fertilizer thinly in a circle several inches from 

 the stem as a centre. 



it Currant worms did a good deal of 

 damage this spring eh? Then be ready for 

 the second brood due in early July, for it is 

 likely to be bigger than the first! Spray the 

 lower and interior part of the bushes (goose- 

 berry and currant both) thoroughly as this is 

 where the eggs are most frequently laid. 

 Arsenate of lead an ounce to 50 gallons of 

 water is the usual spring strength. Fresh 

 white hellebore is safer after the fruit begins to 

 ripen — an ounce in two quarts of water. 



ir Wilted and drooping raspberry and 

 blackberry shoots and tips of shoots turning 

 bluish! Cane maggots. The adult flies laid 

 their eggs in the tip leaves and the maggots 

 burrowed down the pith of the stems several 

 inches and then girdled them just beneath the 

 bark. Hence the wilting. Unless stopped it 

 will continue to tunnel downward till it 

 reaches the ground surface where it will 

 pupate early in July if not already in late June. 

 Here it will remain in pupation till next spring. 

 Cut drooping canes several inches below the 

 lowest wilted leaf. If solid the insect is in the 

 cut part; if hollow make another cut several 

 inches lower. Burn all cuttings. 



if There's no need to be afraid of Lep- 

 tinotavsa decemlineata! When you find it on 

 your potato vines and egg plants, just 

 treat it to a spray containing an ounce of paris 

 green to three gallons of water or an ounce of 

 arsenate of zinc to two gallons. Better still, use 

 bordeaux mixture instead of water so as to 

 control disease as well as beetles. No, don't be 

 afraid of potato bugs. They're easy! 



ir Those little black beetles that hop 

 merrily off the potato vines as you approach . 

 are flea-beetles. They are responsible for 

 the holes in the leaves. Bordeaux mixture, 

 while a fungicide is a satisfactory repellant be- 

 cause the beetles don't enjoy it very much. 

 Arsenate of lead or paris green may be added 

 as in spraying for potato beetles. The same 

 spraying will then answer for both bugs. 



•k Asparagus stems bare, are they? The 

 larvae and adults of two species of beetles are 

 probably to blame. If the bed is small confine 

 a brood of little chicks in it and forget your 

 troubles. In a larger bed whack the lower 

 parts of the stems to jar off the larvae. This 

 is best done when the ground is hottest and 

 driest about midday while the sun is shining 

 full; very few larvae will get back to the plants. 



