WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
July, 1917 
5 92 
Potatoes and Bugs. 
Have you met Mrs. Leptino- 
tarsa decemlineata? She wears 
au orange coat with ten black 
stripes and is literally the 
"‘mother of millions.” Most (ra- 
tional) people say “potato bug”, 
but the entomological sharks in- 
sist we should say potato 
“beetle,” while occasionally one 
may be so far gone toward com- 
plete imbecility as to use that Lep- 
lino, — stuff in the first line. 
Farmers and big potato growers 
know what to do. These few sug- 
gestions are 
FOR THE BEGINNER 
Watch for the first adult 
beetles : turn over the leaves to 
find the orange-colored egg clus- 
ters. Pick the beetles by hand 
dropping them into a pan that 
has a little kerosene in the bottom. 
Crush the egg clusters. Even 
with these precautions some will 
escape and it will be necessary to 
“spray” in order to poison the 
young bugs, as these are the ones 
that do the eating. 
Spraying or rather combating 
the potato beetle with poison is a 
simple process. Use Paris green 
and lime. A heaping teaspoonful 
of paris green to a gallon of wa- 
ter is a heavy dose. Get a lump 
of fresh lime and slake it by pour- 
ing water on it drop by drop un- 
til it crumbles; add a small hand- 
ful of this to the Paris-green- 
water mixture and apply with a 
whisk broom. Paris green is not 
soluble in water and will settle 
quickly in water, therefore keep 
a wooden paddle in the pail and 
stir frequently. 
Presumably every one knows 
that Paris green is poinsonous and 
ought not to be kept in a baking 
powder can in the pantry. While 
a small quantity taken internally 
would prove fatal, there is little 
danger of absorption through the 
skin. 
Garden Notes From Forest 
County. 
The following timely garden 
notes are clipped from the Repub- 
lican of Crandon. It appears 
that the editor must have an ad- 
visory council similar to ours. 
We seldom find such good advice 
as given here outside of Oshkosh. 
Grounders for Gardens. 
Just a few pointers for the am- 
ateur war gardeners by some of 
our prominent citizens : 
Carrots should be pulled up and 
shaved every Saturday and then 
packed back in the ground. 
Whiskers on carrots always 
tickled our throat. — G. H. Daw- 
son. 
Beans jump out of the ground 
quicker if rolled in vaseline be- 
fore planting. — Egbert Wyman. 
Be sure to place a pan of soaked 
bread near the pea plants. You 
never can tell when a pea plant 
wants a lunch and it must be 
handy for him, otherwise he dies. 
— A. E. Germer. 
A pinch of black pepper 
sprinkled on the seed will put the 
“pep” in the young peppers and 
make them grow to enormous size. 
— James Paul. 
As soon as the cucumbers get 
large enough to notice things, 
separate the male ones from the 
female ones, for if you don’t they 
will spend all their time flirting 
and won't grow. A wild cucum- 
ber is no good. — Len Russell. 
Cabbage heads should be fitted 
with breakfast caps as soon as 
they begin to develop. The hot 
sun is hard on their domes. — 
Martin Georgeson. 
Be sure to plant the seed right 
side up. Many ^ man has lost a 
good garden through this little 
error. — Chas. Taylor. 
Hell can be raised in any gar- 
den patch with a large-footed 
dog. — A. E. Karlberg. 
Soak the pea seed in kerosene 
and you will find that the peas 
won ’t roll around in the pod while 
growing. — John Whismat. 
Use kind words to the young 
plants and you will get better re- 
sults. — Bill Webster. 
Babies can be raised in this cli- 
mate successfully. Forest county 
always has a good crop. — John 
Bradley. 
A phonograph placed in the po- 
tato patch will keep the bugs busy 
“tangoing” and they won’t harm 
the vines. — John Scory. 
Pickled cucumbers can be 
raised by injecting a little 
“booze” into each one. This 
saves the house frau the bother 
of preserving them. — F. A. ba- 
browski. 
To raise pumpkins without 
holes in them take a double bitted 
ax and mash them down every 
morning. The hired girl can do 
this to keep down her weight. — 
R. J. McMillan. 
You can raise good collar but- 
tons by grafting radishes onto to- 
matoes. It takes a good Forest 
County “grafter” to do this, 
though. — John Skinem. 
Tomatoes will ripen quick if you 
let a young “chicken” walk thru 
the rows in a short skirt. They 
get that natural blush sooner and 
hold it longer. — C. A. Moe. 
Treat your corn seed with 
white pop if you want to use it 
for pop corn. — Frank Ilellstrom. 
Unless you want a crop of wood 
peckers don’t plant bird seed. — 
Ted Lutterman. 
To raise cobless corn, place 
Blue Jay corn plasters on each 
young plant. This will pull the 
cob out when it develops. — Art. 
Netzel. 
To keep turnips from turning 
up, pound them on the head when 
young with a 6 lb. hammer. — 
Henry Mundt. 
