June, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
147 
overcome. There remains, however, 
apple scab to be controlled ; at 
present it appears that heavy in- 
fections of scab cannot be con- 
trolled by the dust, although in 
some rare cases light infections 
were checked. 
So it seems that before discard- 
ing the spray rig entirely, we must 
wait until the duster is more com- 
pletely developed. But the duster 
has one field of missionary work 
where it will perform good service 
— that is in the home orchard. 
The commercial fruit growers 
all over the country have long 
tried to get the men with a small 
home orchard to spray, and a good 
many of these men would spray if 
they thought the cost of machin- 
ery, the time and materials, and 
the upkeep on the machinery would 
not overbalance the slight good 
they would derive from spraying. 
Now there is no excuse left for 
them, for a duster requires very 
little time, practically no repairs, 
and the materials are comparative- 
ly inexpensive. Depending on the 
size of the machine, the price of 
dusters ranges from twenty five 
dollars for the hand duster used on 
small trees and potatoes to ninety- 
five dollars for the large duster 
with a capacity of forty acres of 
thirty foot trees per day. 
Any ordinary gasoline engine 
will run a duster, the large duster 
requiring about three horsepower, 
possibly less. 
In conclusion, I wish to say that 
there is considerable difference of 
opinion as to the merits of dust- 
ing, and even some of those who 
have used the dust are inclined to 
be skeptical. Each season brings 
new developments, and not until 
the materials have undergone 
greater refinement will the dust 
give maximum results. 
Cutworms 
The cutworm is a vicious and 
contemptible insect. In fact no 
name seems fitting to the gardener 
who climbs out of bed very early 
in- the morning to hoe his tomato 
or cabbage plants to find that Mr. 
cutworm got up earlier still and 
attended to the plants. If cut- 
worm injury were confined to eat- 
ing a leaf or two one might for- 
give the beast but to completely 
sever the plant, cut off clean as 
with a razor and apparently with- 
out purpose, why that’s sheer cus- 
sedness. 
Prof. J. (I. Sanders, formerly 
state entomologist, has this to say 
about cutworms : 
“About the time that young 
plants are pushing through the soil 
they are found cut off even with 
the surface of the ground, the wilt- 
ed top usually lying near the be- 
headed root stalk. Corn and oth- 
er field crops suffer the same fate. 
As a rule, the worms themselves 
are nowhere to be seen ; but if one 
removes the soil to a depth of an 
inch or two near a dead plant, one 
will likely find a dark, naked 
worm, lying curled up and motion- 
less.’’ 
“There are many species. The 
worms differ in markings, but their 
work is much the same. They are 
the larvae of night-flying moths of 
the family Noetuidae. Their 
parents are on the wing in July 
and August, laying eggs in fields 
that are grown up to herbage of 
almost any kind. A field that has 
been allowed to run to weeds is 
favorite ground. The young 
worms that hatch from these eggs 
feed for a few weeks in the fall, 
and then hibernate in the soil. In 
the spring they resume activity, 
and after the ground has been 
plowed and seeded, they are- ready 
to destroy the first green plants 
that show up.” 
“In large areas, cultivate thor- 
oughly in late summer, keeping the 
ground free of weeds, and plow 
deeply in the fall, following this 
with early cultivation in the 
spring.” 
“In the garden injury may be 
avoided by the use of poison bran 
mash in the spring, scattering it 
over the ground before the plants 
are due to come up. The worms 
will then be killed before they have 
done any damage. Tomatoes, cab- 
bages, and other large plants may 
be protected by fitting a collar of 
paper around the stem, setting it 
two or three inches into the ground, 
and letting the upper edge be three 
or four inches above the surface. 
The formula for poison bran mash 
is as follows : ’ ’ 
POISON BRAN MASH 
Bran 25 pounds 
Paris green V. 2 pound 
Cheap molasses 1 quart 
Water as needed to moisten. 
For small quantities use: 
Bran 1 quart 
Paris green 1 teaspoonful 
Cheap molasses. ... 1 tablespoonful 
Water as needed to moisten. 
The war calls for the team work 
of soldier son and soldier father — - 
the hero of the trenches and the 
hero of the furrow. 
This is your first chance to de- 
fend the flag — go the limit. 
Yes, they are holding the line, 
but the folks back home must bring 
up the reserves. 
Production and self-denial are 
the guns that will get the Huns. 
