Bugs and Diseases 



199 



6. INSECTS AND FUNGI 



The vegetable -gardener may expect to be troubled 

 with insects and plant diseases. Many of these 

 troubles are very serious and are beyond the direct 

 control of the cultivator. The gardener must circum- 

 vent them rather than combat them. He must avoid 

 them by means of strategy rather than kill them 

 directly. Insects which feed openly on the tops of 

 plants are nearly always amenable to direct treatment 

 with poisons or other sprays. Of this class are potato- 

 bugs and plant -lice. Those troubles which appear in 

 the inner parts of plants or in their roots are not 

 open to direct treatment, and in such cases the gen- 

 eral management of the place must be relied on to 

 keep the enemies in check. Insects and diseases are 

 incidental or secondary facts in every garden planta- 

 tion. The primary thing is to make the plants grow; 

 the secondary thing is to keep the bugs off. 



Following are some of the means by which the 

 vegetable -gardener may hope to lessen or avert the 

 losses from insects and diseases: 



1. By means of rotation in crops and in methods 

 of tillage. The shorter the rotation, the less is the 

 liability to serious insect attacks. It is rare that in- 

 sects and diseases appear suddenly in great numbers. 

 They increase year by year, and in some favorable 

 season prove very destructive. If the kinds of crops 

 have been various, the probability is that they will 

 not have gained a serious foothold, and that they 

 will be held in comparative subjection. It is essen- 



