278 
T H E GARDE N M A G A Z I X E 
June, 1917 
Repelling the Enemies’ Assaults 
★ Plant lice often prove troublesome 
on cantaloupes, cabbage and some other 
crops. Generally they have got such a 
start that little or nothing can be done to 
save the plants. 1 herefore, examine the plants 
from time to time, especially beneath the 
leaves, to see if they are starting. A spray 
of black leaf 40 or other standard nicotine 
insecticide at recommended strength will hold 
these pests in check. Be sure to have most 
of the spray hit the under sides of the leaves. 
★ The Striped Cucumber Beetle on 
cucumber, melon, squash and their kin is 
almost impossible to subdue after the plants 
are left unprotected in the garden. Cover 
with wire gauze before they get above the sur- 
face and until the vines begin to run. To- 
bacco dust on the hills is thought to be effec- 
tive but is not fully satisfactory. However, 
it does no damage as when it decays it adds 
plant food, particularly potash to the soil. 
★ Turn over the Squash and 
pumpkin leaves and look for little 
groups of eggs about the size of a pin 
head. These will hatch into dirty 
gray bugs which when full grown are 
about an inch long. Not only do 
the adults and the young suck the 
sap of the plants but they carry in- 
fection from plant to plant. The 
adults are sluggish creatures, espec- 
ially in the early morning and on 
cool days, so they may be easily 
caught. Popping them in kerosene 
is satisfactory, except to them. 
1 hey are hard to affect with sprays 
of any kind. The eggs may be broken 
or cut off with part of the leaf and 
burned. In the fall after the vines 
have been nipped by frost the bugs 
will move to the squashes. Often 
hundreds may be killed by knocking 
them on the ground and tramping 
on them. A cool day and the early 
morning when the bugs are some- 
what torpid are the best times to do 
this. 
★ No, THOSE BIG CATERPILLARS 
on the tomato plants are not likely to do 
serious damage. There are not enough of 
them — usually. They are kept in check by 
their parasites so they rarely become a pest. 
If they seem to be too numerous for the good 
of the garden, pick them off and step on 
them. 
★ Ugly brownish spots on the bean pods? 
Anthracnose! It can be kept in check by 
spraying with bordeaux especially if the spray 
is directed upward from below, Never mind 
if the beans become smeared; a few table- 
spoonfuls of vinegar in the water used for 
washing will dissolve the smears and a final 
rinsing with water will remove the last traces 
of the solution. Not the slightest danger of 
poisoning! The best preventive of this dis- 
ease is to avoid doing any work — cultivat- 
ing, picking or even walking through the 
patch — while the plants are damp with rain 
or dew. 
★ Irregular holes in cabbage leaves? 
Probably caused by cabbage worms — velvety 
green caterpillars rather hard to see at first 
because so nearly the color of the leaves. 
Arsenate of lead and paris green — one ounce 
of either to ten gallons of water — sprayed on 
the plants are the best remedies. No danger 
to human beings from eating the cabbage 
later because the outer leaves are pulled off. 
Spraying now will destroy worms that would 
become parents and grandparents of the 
later broods which make fall cabbage leaves 
look like poorly made colanders. The cater- 
pillar also attacks cauliflower, brussels sprouts, 
kale, kohl-rabi, etc. 
★ Asparagus Beetles — pretty, metallic 
spotted little fellows about a quarter of an 
inch long and then slimey greenish slugs — often 
play havoc in home gardens. Let the use- 
less, inferior, spindley shoots act as decoys for 
the beetles to lay their eggs upon, then cut 
and burn them, say a week later to destroy 
the eggs, leaving a new set of spindley shoots 
to replace them. 1 his practice kept up for a 
month or six weeks during the cutting season 
will make the plants fairly free from the pest. 
After the cutting stops destroy the slugs by 
knocking the plants with a stick during the 
heat of the day while the ground is so hot they 
cannot get back. 1 his work would be play 
to any boy who likes to rattle a stick on a 
picket fence as he walks by! Chickens kept 
confined in the asparagus patch will be help- 
ful. In cases of bad infestation dust with 
air slaked lime in the early morning while the 
dew is on the plants. 
★ Sometimes Carrots, parsnips, celery, 
fennel, parsley, dill and other related plants 
are defoliated by green and black banded 
worms or caterpillars which when touched 
suddenly exhibit a pair of yellow “horns” 
that give off a peculiar, offensive odor. 
Usually they are not numerous enough to 
cause much concern, so knocking them off 
and treading upon them will answer; when 
abundant, spray with paris green or arsenate 
of lead one ounce to ten gallons of water. 
★ Plants cut off just at the surface of the 
ground ? A cut worm — a dirty gray fellow 
that hides under a chip or a clod during the 
day and comes out to feed at night. Cut 
worms are worst on newly plowed or dug sod 
and near the edges of gardens bordered by 
sod. Spray a patch of clover or grass with 
arsenate of lead — one ounce to ten gal- 
lons of water — in the early evening and 
after cutting it drop in little clumps upon 
the ground a few days before an}' plants 
are set. In the absence of other food the 
worms will eat this poisoned material and die. 
After plants are set use poisoned bran near 
the plants to be protected — a teaspoonful or 
so to a plant. Paris green at the rate of one 
ounce to three pounds of bran mixed dry and 
then moistened with sweetened water till the 
mass is thoroughly wet but not sloppy, will 
give satisfactory results. 
★ Turnips are troubled with little black 
beetles that hop away briskly as you ap- 
proach. You may make things unpleasant 
for the beetle by spraying with bordeaux 
(usual formula) or, now that copper sulphate 
is costly, scatter lime dust on the plants be- 
ginning at the windward side so the 
dust will blow forward. These flea 
beetles do not seem to be success- 
fully combated with poisons but they 
don’t like lime in any form. 
★ Strawberry plants look sickly, 
wilted or not thrifty? Dig down 
carefully with a stick or a trowel. 
Aha! A brown-headed white grub, 
larva of a May beetle or June bug. 
Nothing to do but kill each individ- 
ual grub. Prevent repetition by not 
planting strawberries on newly 
turned sod. 
★ Well, Well! A potato bug on 
the egg-plant! Yes, it’s sometimes 
a pest on this crop as well as on 
potatoes. Spraying with paris green 
— an ounce to ten gallons — is the 
best remedy. 
★ If you find a raspberry, dew- 
berry or blackberry plant with 
orange-yellow leaves — most con- 
spicuous on the undersides — dig it up 
and burn it at once. 7 his is orange 
rust for which no remedy has as yet 
been discovered. As every diseased plant 
is a contagion spot it may mean serious 
loss of adjacent plants due to infection. 
As soon as the raspberry and blackberry 
canes have borne fruit, the old canes 
should be cut out close to the ground 
and placed upon a bonfire of dry brush 
and burned immediately. They are almost 
sure to be diseased or insect laden so the 
sooner they are destroyed the better. After 
they have fruited they are not of the slightest 
use to the balance of the plant. They die 
any way. Why let them be a menace to the 
plantation? 
★ When large numbers of the blossom buds 
of your strawberries drop off as if nipped, the 
trouble is weevil. This insect is worst in 
old beds and on varieties that bear pollen. 
It is a good plan therefore to allow the straw- 
berry beds to fruit only one year and to have 
a new bed set out each season, preferably 
as remote as possible from the older bed. 
The insects do not migrate rapidly so this 
method .helps to keep them in check. As 
the pollen bearing kinds are most attacked 
it is well to plant rather largely of pistillate 
or female varieties and to rely upon the 
other kinds almost wholly for pollen and not 
for fruit. 
JUNE 
JULY 
AUGUST 
SEPTEMBER. 
A# 
CNj 
£ £ 
Slf- 5t Z S 
4 
11 
18 
25 
1 
8 
15 
22 
29 
4- 
4.15 
430 
. 1 _ 
. ' M *£03 
5- 
5.15 
530 
545 
V. 
■ jPOSED RISING 
615 
6.30 
PRESENT RISING time 
645 
Jo 
PM 
5— 
515 
530 
545 
6" 
Daylight Saving and the Gardener 
Let every gardener campaign for the Daylight Saving 
reform. Setting forward the clock for one hour during 
the summer months would give the average business man 
an appreciable time for the garden in the evening, with- 
out sacrifice of morning light. Daylight Saving would 
mean millions of better, more productive gardens. 
615 
630 
• ■■ gVfAi.NTV IHVUCiHT GAINED 
715 
PRESENT EVENING DAYLIGHT 
730 
745 
8- 
