August, 1889. 
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shallow all summer and properly thinned. 
The practice of sowingthese tap-rooted veg- 
etables on flattened ridges with artificial 
fertilizers immediately under them is much 
better than using stable manure on them 
broadcast, since this has a tendency to in- 
duce roots to grow forked. 
Water melons and musk melons should 
be worked rapidly while young and disturb- 
ed very little after the vines run and get 
into bloom. There is no advantage in nip- 
ping off the tips of the vines to induce fruit- 
fulness. The tip you pinch off will in all 
probability produce the first melon if allow- 
ed to remain. 
Sweet Potatoes should have the earth 
drawn up to them well before the vines cover 
the ground. Go through them occasionally 
and pul! the vines loose from the ground. 
The starch and sugar stored up in the tu- 
bers is manufactured by the foliage and 
therefore a healthy growth of vines is nec- 
essary for a full crop. But if these vines 
are allowed to root at their joints, the car- 
bo-hydrates which should be stored up in 
the tubers in the hill will be distributed 
among the hundred of little ones forming 
on the vines and the crops will be reduced, 
and the grower will say they all “ran away 
to vines’’ when the fact is they all ran away 
to roots. Then do not mutilate the vines, 
but don’t allow them to form fresh roots. 
The more vigorous the vines the better the 
crop if they are kept loose from the soil. 
The earlv maturing Irish Potato should 
be dug as soon as the tops are dead, but be 
sure to dig them when the ground is dry. 
They are much better off in a cool cellar 
than in the ground. I have dug them here 
in July and kept them in perfect order un- 
til March. 
Plants of Green Curled Scotch Kale from 
seed sown in July, set this month and cul- 
tivated as cabbage will make the finest of 
greens after being touched by frost, but 
seed sown broadcast this month and next, 
furnish cheaper and more abundant sup- 
plies during winter and early spring. In 
this latitude we cut the Kale for table use all 
winter without protection, but northward 
a covering of evergreen boughs would be 
necessary, and even inVirginia some protec- 
tion is an improvement when it can be given 
economically. 
(<irern Curled M’olcli Kale. 
In speaking of Kale I ought to have men- 
tioned a common practice of sowing the 
seed of the Curled Scotch variety early in 
August and transplanting the plants in Sep- 
temb r al>out the same distance apart as ear- 
ly cabbages. Set the plants deeply so that the 
stem will be protected, and when cold weath- 
er comes on cover with pine bushes 
or even mulch with coarse manure north of 
Virginia. Here they usually stand pretty 
well. These transplanted plants make large 
heads and more tender hear is than that 
which is sown broadcast later. Scotch Kale 
is finer than the Dwarf German but the 
latter generally comes through the winter 
in better order when sown broadcast and 
gives a heavier crop. 
Early Queen Onion. 
If you have a piece of moist, cool and light | 
soil, you can raise a nice crop of pick- 
ling onions by sowing, during August, seed 
of the Early Queen Onion. Sow some quick 
fertilizer and harrow in on the surface and 
sow the seed thickly in shallow drills, pack- 
ing the soil firmly on them either by tread- 
ing with the feet or rolling with a hand rol- 
ler. With a favorable season they will 
come in nicely for winter pickles. In regard 
to sowing onions to stand over winter for 
Spring use we will speak later. 
Lime for Colorado Beetles. 
A neighbor tells me that he has found 
lime, when properly prepared, very effec- 
tive in destroying Colorado Beetles. He 
had been experimenting with various things 
to find a non-poisonous remedy. Air-slaked 
lime did not seem to harm them a particle. 
He then tried fresh stone lime slaked with 
salt water into a paste, or putty as the plas- 
terers call if, and spread out and dried and 
then pulverized and used at once. He says 
every larva touched by the lime was killed. 
I mention this, not as fully endorsing it. for 
I have not tested it; but as worth experi- 
menting with further. With me the bee- 
tles have done so little harm for three years 
past I have done nothing to destroy them, 
but have watched with pleasure the increase 
of their enemies. Besides an Ichneumon 
fly, there are at least three predatory bee- 
tles destroying the Colorado beetle. So I 
step aside and let the natural enemies of the 
beetle fight my battle for me. Of course 
should they come in the numbers they did 
years ago I should be obliged to battle in 
self defence. — W. F. Massey. 
Hints for New Jersey. 
First of the month is still time enough 
to plant Half Long Blood Beets, also Ruta 
Baga Turnips. The White and Yellow 
Swedes will have ample time if planted 
last of the month; frequent dustings with 
air slaked lime and turpentine will drive 
away the beetle. One pint of turpentine to 
one bushel of lime, well mixed and allow’ - 
ed to stand until the lime is thoroughly im- 
pregnated with the fumes of the turpentine, 
acts as a preventive and remedy. String 
Beans and Peas may be planted and will ma- 
ture a crop safely. Lettuce for fall should 
be sow’n and it will be in condition to head 
on the approach of cool weather. Succession 
crops of radish may be pi intedalso. Ear- 
ly varieties of corn will mature if planted 
about the first of the month in New Jersey, 
and they often prove more profitable than 
the first crops. Spinach and Kale should 
be planted last of the month and remain to 
be wintered over for early spring cutting. 
For this purpose they should have time to 
nearly mature in order to withstand the ac- 
tion of winter. Of late years the culture of 
this crop has been nearly abandoned, from 
the fact of the importations from the South 
which are in better condition and arrive as 
early as January. — Theo. F. Baker. 
Conducted by Prof. F. H. Hillman, 
State University, Reno, Nevada. 
Tlic (train Aplils, or Plant Louse. 
Everyone who has given any attention to 
plants during the summer months, must 
have become more or less familiar with the 
little yellowish green lice that infest the 
leaves and stems. Some species of these 
lice are almost black, while others are of a 
bright red color. 
Nearly every species of plants is at some 
time affected by these lice; and, usually 
different species of plants are affected by 
different species of them. 
Plant lice belong to the order of insects, 
Hemiptera, or bugs. This is manifest by 
the presence of a sucking tube with which 
they withdraw for their nourishment the 
juices of the plant they infest. This tube 
is hollow, jointed and provided with a 
pointed, rod-like piercer which punctures 
the epidermis of the plant, thus permitting 
the sucking tube to pass to the inner tis- 
sues of the plant. Right here lies the se- 
cret of the uselessness of applying as St rem- 
edy for true bugs, a poison that must be 
taken internally. The poison remains upon 
the surface of the plant while the bug’s 
sucking-tube passes through it to the plant’s 
juices beneath. 
There are four forms of these lice; the 
mature winged form, the immature winged 
form, which shows a scale on each side, the 
mature wingless form, and the wingless 
young. These may all be seen workingon the 
same plant at the same time, though the 
winged form is most common during the lat- 
ter part of their season. 
The color of the grain plant louse is us- 
ually a yellowish green. At the latter part 
of their season when they are working on 
the heads of grain, which take on a new 
color at the approach of ripening, these lice 
become lighter in color. The winged form 
is sometimes darker than the others, espe- 
cially between the bases of the wings. 
These plant lice belong to the family 
Aphidai and to the genus Aphis. This is the 
genus so commonly represented by the lice 
of the apple, peach, plum, cherry, grains, 
and house plants. 
The presence of these lice on trees is often 
indicated by great numbers of ants which 
gather about the lice to collect the drops of 
honey-like material that exude at intervals 
from two horn-like projections at the pos- 
terior end of the louse’s abdomen. 
It is the purpose of this article to follow 
this general description of the plant lice, 
with a description of the louse that is doing 
such great damage to American wheat, es- 
pecially throughout Michigan, Indiana 
and Illinois. 
This year will long be remembered, with 
those of 1861,-66 and 76, by the appearance 
