Rules, Notes and Recipes 
177 
pieces and add to water, then add molasses and stir. Add syrup to 
bran and mix thoroughly. The mash should be scattered over the field, 
just before dark, preferably a few days before the plants are set. A 
few plants in the gardeif may be protected by wrapping stems with 
paper. Cutworms may also be trapped by placing small pieces of board 
on the ground. They will crawl under these, and can then be hunted 
and killed. Late Fall plowing tmcovers many cutworms, thus exposing 
them to birds, and other natural enemies.” 
Diseases. — The ailments of plants are not all caused by fimgus 
attacks, but may be owing to harmful insects, or faulty cidtivation, 
such as overcrowding, irregular watering, poor soil, bad light, faulty 
ventilation, or damage by gas or fumes. A plant diseased is one in 
which fungous spores have germinated and have spread through the 
plant’s tissues, either in the roots, stems or leaves, clogging them, and 
feeding on the sap. A healthy plant, well cared for, will usually re- 
sist fungus and insect attacks. Plants that are overfed or “coddled” 
too much often collapse from disease. The good cultivator seldom errs 
in these particulars. This work, however, is not a text-book on plant 
diseases, and the reader is referred to the special treatises on this sub- 
ject, as Llpman’s “Bacteria in Relation to Country Life,” or Massee’s 
“Diseases of Cultivated Plants”; or to the bulletins published by the 
Department of Agriculture and the State Experiment Stations. (See 
also paragraphs on “Fungicides” and “Insecticides” in this section.) 
Drainage. — There are few places where some amount of drainage is 
not necessary. It may be merely the drainage around greenhouses to 
keep them dry and to prevent rot, or it may be the improvement in land, 
or proper drainage of benches. All land that holds water for a day or so 
after heavy rain requires drainage. The benefits derivable are the sweet- 
ening of the soil, making it accessible to roots to a much greater depth, 
freeing it of stagnant water, and allowing healthy action to take place. 
Tiles of diameter, set from Sy^ft. to 3%ft. deep, according to the 
stiffness or sogginess of the soil, are recommended ; these to be 30ft. apart. 
Dynamiting Soil. — If you have clay subsoil or hardpan and you 
want bumper crops you should use one-half stick of 40 per cent, red 
cross dynamite placed every 15ft. and 3ft. deep, and you will get them, 
if it is done at the proper time. It should be done in the Fall of the 
year and when the soil is dry. So conclusively has dynamite demon- 
strated its worth to the nurserymen that the Wharton Springs Nursery 
Company, of Tennessee, which has 217 acres devoted to nursery busi- 
ness, has stated, according to the National Nurseryman, that it will 
not plant any more nursery stock without first subsoiling the ground 
with dynamite. It has come to this conclusion after first setting out 
trees on about nineteen acres of land that had previously been blasted. 
The trees set out on this blasted area did the best of any ever grown 
there, and the company realized the worth of dynamite in the nursery. 
Fruit trees, shade trees, grapevines, as well as rose bushes, all are 
planted now in dynamited holes or on land subsoiled by dynamite. 
Earwigs, Combating. — It is about three years since earwigs 
(Forficula auricularia) made their appearance in the Ochre Point dis- 
