94 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



" Erect a post in tlie centre of the garden, on which nail 

 a platform of planks some thirty inches square, which 

 cover with sand ; on tins build nightly a fire of fat light- 

 wood for some weeks, from the time that moths, millers, 

 and butterflies begin to infest the garden. Large num- 

 bers will fly into the fire and be consumed."* 



Hang up common porter bottles, though wide-mouthed 

 bottles are preferable, during the same season, with a few 

 spoonfuls of sweetened water or molasses and vinegar in 

 them to be renewed every second evening, and hundreds 

 of moths that would have been the parents of a new race 

 of destroyers will be caught. This is the most prom- 

 ising mode of waging war also upon the melon-worm as 

 well as the com and boll-worm, and many other insects. 

 For filling the bottles, a better preparation still is a pint 

 of water to half a pint of molasses, the water having as 

 much cobalt dissolved in it as it will take up before mixing 

 with the molasses. Put a wineglassful to each bottle and 

 empty once or twice a week. 



Mr. Downing mentions an acquaintance who, using the 

 molasses and water only one season, caught and extermi- 

 nated three bushels of insects in this manner, and preserved 

 his garden almost free from them. Mr. Robinson, of New 

 Haven, caught over a peck in one night. Keep the ground 

 rich and sow healthy seed ; cultivate thoroughly, and the 

 crop will soon be beyond their ravages. After the crops 

 are so far advanced that fowls will not do much injury by 

 scratching, keep them in the garden during the summer, 

 and the cabbage caterpillars and many other worms will 

 be exterminated. Birds are valuable assistants in the 

 work of destruction. Toads live almost entirely upon 

 insects, and do no injury to vegetables. Bonfires of brush 



♦ R. B. Southern Cullivatrr, Nov 1855. 



