162 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
July, 1918 
Practical Hints for the Amateur 
Gardener 
July is a critical month in ama- 
teur gardening. In normal sea- 
sons we can count on a dry spell 
and if long continued, two weeks 
or more, it may spell disaster and 
possible failure of many crops, 
unless , — the garden was properly 
tilled in June. The wise gardener 
took heed in May and June and 
never permitted any weeds to 
grow in his garden. He killed all 
of them on sight, or sooner, by fre- 
quent hoeing. Frequent hoeing 
and raking also conserved the wa- 
ter supply in the soil so that his 
plants can stand a week or two 
without rain. How did hoeing 
hold the water in the soil ? Simply 
by keeping a layer (blanket) of 
loose soil on the surface preventing 
the escape of the soil water. 
By the middle of July the gar- 
den will be pretty well “made” 
but it must not be wholly neglected. 
Frequent shallow cultivation is im- 
portant even in dry weather. Much 
walking between rows packs the 
soil and destroys the blanket mulch. 
Cultivation in the home garden 
should always be shallow, not to 
exceed two inches. Deeper hoeing 
will sever roots that the plant 
needs. 
Hilling or drawing earth toward 
the plants seems to be the favor- 
ite pastime of many gardeners. 
Some gardeners “hill” or mound 
most everything, drawing the earth 
up to the roots of the plants leav- 
ing a deep furrow between the 
rows. Nobody seems to know why. 
There is no “why.” Potatoes, if 
planted shallow, may need a little 
hilling, just enough to cover any 
tubers that may push out of the 
ground and thus become sunburned 
but to do more than this is a use- 
less expenditure of labor. Hilling 
such vegetables as beets, carrots, 
cabbage, etc., is even worse, its a 
positive detriment to the crops. 
Level, shallow cultivation is best. 
Two insect pests make life a bur- 
den for the amateur gardener in 
July, the potato beetle and the cab- 
bage worm. Both are so easily 
controlled that the “oF timer” is 
never worried for a minute about 
them. Just simply poison them 
and quit worrying. Anyone who 
aspires to be a real gardener should 
be ashamed to be found collecting 
potato beetles by the old-time melh- 
od of batting them into a pan. 
That’s old stuff, entirely out of 
date, not good form in gardening 
circles. It simply isn’t done. 
Anyway it’s an expensive and in- 
efficient plan of disposing of potato 
bugs and there is a better plan. 
Firstly don’t worry about the 
mature beetles, the egg layers. 
They eat but little of the potato 
vines but keep busy laying eggs 
on the under side of the leaves. 
Let them keep on if it’s any satis- 
faction to them, but lay in a sup- 
ply of arsenate of lead and attend 
to any other business you may 
have until these eggs begin to 
hatch. 
As soon as the first dirty red 
larvae appear, and not two min- 
utes later, spray the vines with 
an arsenate of lead solution, about 
two heaping tablespoonfuls of the 
dry arsenate to 2 1 / 4 to 3 gallons 
of water. If you have no spray 
pump use a sprinkling can ; if no 
can don’t buy one, borrow one or 
use a whisk broom. To make the 
dope stick add a little soap, a 
piece as big as my thumb, dis- 
solved in hot water and a44 e 4 t9 
the poison mixture. This dose 
should not need to be repeated as 
new leaves form as not all the 
eggs are laid at one time. Paris 
green may be used in place of 
arsenate of lead if preferred. 
Use arsenate of lead or Paris 
green for the cabbage worm. “Oh, 
very well, you don’t need to do it 
if you don’t want to!” “They are 
your worms not mine and I wish 
you much joy with them. Pick 
them off with your fingers if you 
want to, I should worry.” 
That’s what the experienced 
gardener feels like saying when his 
neighbor asks him how to kill cab- 
bage worms and friend neighbor 
comes back, “use poison on cab- 
bage, why we eat the cabbage. ’ ’ 
Surely we eat cabbage, but 
not the part that is poisoned. The 
cabbage grows from inside and 
the newly formed leaves are al- 
ways in the very heart of the plant. 
Prof. Wilson’s experiments prove 
conclusively that there is no dan- 
ger whatever in using cabbage 
sprayed with poison even one week 
before maturity. Don’t pick cab- 
bage worms, poison them. 
While the striped cucumber 
beetle usually disappears with the 
end of June the squash bug, a 
much larger beetle and equally 
dangerous, may happen along in 
July. This pest simply cannot be 
poisoned as it feeds by sucking the 
sap of the plant. About the only 
defense is to protect the plants 
with screen, if practical, or, trap- 
ping by laying boards or stones 
around the plants which furnish a 
shelter attractive to the bugs. 
Arsenate of lead is mentioned in 
Wisconsin Horticulture oftener 
than Paris green because it is a 
