324 
TIIE GARDEN M A GAZINE 
July, 1917 
Spray pump attached to 
a pail; a useful all around 
outfit 
plants, and are 
known as “ chew- 
ing insects”; or 
Suck the plant 
juices from below 
the surface, remain- 
ing apparently im- 
movable, and mak- 
ing no perceptible 
“holes,” and are known as “ sucking in- 
sects” ; or 
Burrow down below the surface, attacking 
the roots of the plant, and may be desig- 
nated as “root-workers”; or 
Bore into the inside of the stem or 
branches of the plant, and are termed 
“ borers.” 
Therefore when you find trouble in your 
garden, and are satisfied that some insect is the 
cause, it is a comparatively simple thing to 
hunt around or watch long enough to satisfy 
yourself as to which of these four classes the 
intruders belongs. 
The chewing insects are usually the first to be 
spotted, because the damage they do is at once 
apparent. They include such well known and 
unwelcome friends as the potato-bug, the 
green cabbage 
worm, the asparagus 
beetle, the horned 
tomato worm, the 
rose bug, the aster 
beetle, and many 
others which actu- 
ally consume por- 
tions of the foliage 
or flowers. The 
deadly “cut-worm” 
is also an “eater,” 
but he is in a class 
by himself, as ex- 
plained later. 
1 he suck- 
ing insects 
have a tend- 
The " knapsack " sprayer is easily portable and can be car- 
ried to any part of the grounds. Has continuous pressure 
encyto choosethe undersides of leavesof tender 
growing tips and buds, and to start in crowded 
and out of the way places where they are not 
readily observed unless one is looking for them. 
One of the first indications of their presence is 
contorted or twisted leaves, on an otherwise 
healthy looking plant. If they are allowed to 
continue unmolested, even for a short time, 
however, the whole plant soon gets a drooping, 
dejected looking appearance, and looses its 
green color. In an incredibly short time it will 
be injured beyond saving. The “aphids” or 
plant-lice attacking peas, cabbage, melons and 
many other things, the various forms of 
“scale,” and the “nymphs” or young of the 
small white fly and the odoriferous black flat 
“squash bug,” all belong to the sucking class. 
HOW TO LOCATE ROOT-WORKERS AND BORERS 
The root-workers are even more difficult to 
spot. Usually it is necessary to take the plant 
up by the roots, quite carefully, to find them. 
But their presence may be suspected when 
here and there a plant along the row has a 
drooping or wilted appearance compared to its 
neighbors, and does not seem to be making 
satisfactory progress. It is likely to lose 
color, also. Frequently it is too late to save 
the first plants attacked before their presence 
is suspected at all. 1 he onion and cabbage 
maggot; the large white grub of the June 
beetle, and the wire-worm, are the most 
common pests of this type. 
The borers take more freely to fruits and 
ornamental shrubs and trees than to vegetables 
and flowers, nevertheless they are occasionally 
to be encountered among the latter. One fel- 
low, sure to show up every year, is the 
“squash-vine borer.” You can begin to 
suspect his presence when your biggest and 
best vine begins to show signs of wilting at the 
growing tip on a bright day. 
FITTING THE PUNISHMENT TO THE CRIMINAL 
Diagnosis is important; but of course that 
doesn’t amount to much without a suitable 
prescription. Having learned how to “place” 
the various insect intruders in your garden, the 
next step is to know what to do in each case 
to stop them. They cannot invariably be 
stopped. But prompt action and the right 
kind of “dope” will usually hold them under 
control at least. The first part of the remedy 
— prompt action — is however just as im- 
portant as the last; you should never forget 
that. 
The chewing insects can, for the most part, 
be controlled by internal or stomach poisons. 
The most convenient and effective of these for 
general purposes is arsenate of lead. It may be 
applied in a wet spray, or dusted on dry. 1 he 
main thing is to get it on before the bugs or 
worms have a chance to do much chewing, and 
cover all parts of the plant evenly. It is -made 
by a number of reliable companies. It is also 
the chief ingredient of several “patent” or 
trade-name concoctions. Helebore is some- 
times used instead of the lead on currants or 
cabbages that have begun to form, as it 
washes off with the first rain. Paris green is a 
similar poison, but arsenate of lead has largely 
supplanted it. 
'I he sucking insects cannot be poisoneo by 
any of the above materials, because there is no 
way of getting it on their food. So for them 
the so-called “contact poisons” are used. 
They are not really poisons in the sense that 
the above are, but are capable of causing 
death by direct contact, through asphyxiation 
or smothering. 1 he most convenient and 
effective of these <s nicotine extract. It comes 
in several degrees of strength, some as high as 
forty per cent, nicotine. It also forms the basis 
of a number of trade-name compounds. A 
high per cent, of nicotine is desirable. It is 
used diluted with water; if by itself a little soap 
is added to make the spray stick and spread. 
It can easily be added to a wet arsenate of lead 
spray, both being applied at once; only the 
nicotine must hit the insects directly, while the 
lead remains on the foliage to be eaten later. 
Kerosene emulsion is used for the same pur- ' 
pose. A stock solution may be kept on hand, 
making it a convenient spray. 
1 he root-workers and the borers are more 
difficult to get at. Lime, nicotine extract, and 
special preparations poured about the roots, 
first removing the top soil, are sometimes help- 
ful, but by no means sure. Badly infested 
plants should be removed and burned. A top- 
dressing of nitrate of soda, with cultivation’ and 
slight hilling up, and irrigation if possible, to 
stimulate strong new growth should be given, 
as the attack is usually transient, and the 
plants may outgrow it if they are not de- 
stroyed. The squash vine borer may be taken 
out by slitting the stem lengthwise on one side; 
after which the wound and several joints 
beyond it should be covered with moist soil. 
Strawberries and other plants attacked by the 
large white, or june beetle grub may be taken 
up, the grub destroyed, and the plant trimmed 
back and reset. 
FORESTALLING THE CUT WORM 
The cut-worm is a chewer, but not of the 
regular type. He eats through the stem of the 
plant, or a branch of it if the stem is too large, 
destroying the whole plant or branch for the 
few T bites he gets out of it. So that, even if he 
could be got by poisoning the plants, he would 
have done his damage before succumbing. 
The cutworm is particularly harmful to newly 
transplanted plants, and to young seedlings. 
If you will dig carefully around a cut off plant 
early in the morning, the culprit can usually be 
unearthed. But the only way to head him off 
beforehand, is to trap him under small pieces 
of shingle or board over night, on newly pre- 
pared surfaces ready for planting, or to use a 
poisoned mash before as well as when planting. 
A combination of these methods will greatly 
reduce the damage they will do. The mash is 
made of one quart of wheat bran, a teaspoonful 
of white arsenate of Paris green, and a tea- 
spoonful of molasses, mixed with enough 
water to make a moist mash, to be spread 
around toward night fall in small quantities. 
THE BEST TO BE DONE WITH DISEASES 
The various fungous diseases which attack 
some vegetables and flowers are known as 
mildew, blight, and rust, or 
anthracnose. No satisfactory 
“remedy” has yet been dis- 
covered, Bordeaux mixture, 
or lime and sulphur prepara- 
tions, used before the disease 
starts, and applied frequently 
A type of dust gun for use with dry powders. 
The long tube gives adequate reach 
