1910 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



inclL or two into the soil, and there con- 

 struct cocoons in which they transform 

 to the pnpal stage. 



Life History and Oenerataons 



Squash vine horers pass the winter 

 in the pupal stage in the soil. Parent 

 moths, commencing to emerga during late 

 April or early May, soon mate and lay 

 eggs on all parts of the plants, but chief- 

 ly on the main stems. Eggs hatch in 

 from 6 to 15 days, usually nearer the 

 former, and larvae attain full growth in 

 about one month. 



The cocoons are formed in the soil an 

 inch or two below the surface, near in- 

 fested plants. The pupal stage lasts from 

 two to three weeks, or all winter, depend- 

 ing on the generation it represents. 



The entire life cycle covers nearly two 

 months, allowing one week for eggs to 

 hatch, four weeks for larval development 

 and three weeks for the pupal stage. 



The second generation occurs mainly 

 during August and September. After this 

 the food supply is largely exhausted. 



Remedial Measures 

 Cultural Methods 



Clean farming methods, such as the 

 most successful farmers are accustomed 

 to practice, involving the prompt removal 

 and destruction of squash, cantaloup and 

 other cucurbit crops when their yielding 

 season is past, serve in a large measure 

 to reduce the annual injury from squash 

 vine borers, and also other insects. 



These crops are generally worthless 

 after July or August, particularly when 

 borers are numerous; so that, by pulling 

 and burning, or composting infested 

 plants, hundreds of borers in the stems or 

 fruit may be killed. 



The compost heap furnishes, in the 

 writers' opinion, a valuable method of dis- 

 posing of remnants of garden or field 

 crops, as it produces a manure that most 

 soils require. As a means for destroying 

 insects like squash vine borers, melon 

 worms and others, the compost heap may 

 prove as effective as fire if the infested 

 material is packed down and covered with 

 earth, or decomposed compost, in order 

 that the heat generated in the pile may 



destroy the larvae and pupae or imprison 

 the adults, which sometimes emerge from 

 their cocoons a few days after the mater- 

 ial is piled. Many moths may mature and 

 escape from cucurbit plants which are 

 gathered and dumped loosely in a pile. 

 It is safest to burn this material and thus 

 lose most of its fertilizing value, unless 

 it is worked into compost as suggested. 

 Diseased vines should always be burned. 



Late fall and early winter plowing 

 serves to bury over-wintering pupae so 

 deep that the emerging moths cannot 

 escape, or exposes the pupae so that some 

 die from unfavorable weather conditions 

 and others fall prey to birds and fowls. 

 One objection often raised to fall plowing 

 is that land should not remain bare all 

 winter; but that condition may be avoid- 

 ed by sowing some cover crop like crim- 

 son clover, vetch, winter rye, or winter 

 oats, which puts the land in better condi- 

 tion than it would be otherwise. 



Deep spring plowing and rotation are 

 valuable. 



Remove borers during June by splitting 

 the stems lengthwise. 



Kill moths when seen flying around. 



R. I. Smith, 



Nortli Carolina Experiment Station Bulletin 

 205. 



Stiitk Bxjg. See 8quash Bug, this sec- 

 tion. 



Sqxtiekels. See Uodent. 



Standaed Baebel Act United States. 

 See Law. 



Stoeage. See various articles under 

 MarJceting. 



Strawberry 



The strawberry belongs to the botan- 

 ical species Fragaria cMolensis, Perhaps 

 no fruit is more adaptable to the different 

 varieties of soil and climate than the 

 strawberry. It is found growing in Flor- 

 ida and Alaska, two extremes of the 

 United States, and while they will prob- 

 ably not prove a profitable commercial 

 crop in Alaska without change of char- 

 acter so as to adapt them to that climate, 

 C. C. Georgeson, in charge of the experi- 

 ment stations there, thinks that by cross- 

 ing with native seedlings, varieties may 

 be produced that will at least be profit- 



