22 
Garden Pests. 
SECOND PAPER. 
BY J. J. ALLEN, DEPAUVILLE, N. Y. 
The currant worm is a pest to every per¬ 
son who attempts to grow currants or 
gooseberries. Some years ago I was so 
tried by these little worms, that in order to 
clear them out, I took the same course that 
the son from the Emerald Isle took when 
his calf became much affected with vermin. 
He killed the calf to kill the lice. So I dug 
out a fine lot of the bushes to destroy the 
worms. Soon after I procured another lot 
of currants and gooseberries and set them 
out by the side of a wall on the south side 
of my place, and mulched them well with 
fresh horse manure packed down about 
three or four inches in thickness, and the 
season passed without seeing a single worm. 
This course I have tested now for six years, 
and am well satisfied that the green horse 
manure will destroy the insect from which 
the worm is hatched. I do not leave any 
space between the bushes which is not 
packed hard with manure. 
In spring as soon as the frost is out of 
the ground I dig around the bushes and 
take away the manure, put there the year 
before, and loosen the dirt; then re-pack 
with manure fresh and pure as the s eason 
before, and the result is a strong growth of 
bushes and an abundance of good fruit, but 
no worms to trouble in the least. This is 
my experience after six years trial. 
ANTS ON FRUIT TREES. 
The ants often injure and destroy the 
fruit so that it will not mature. To stop 
them in their work of destruction put a 
cloth around the tree about four thicknesses 
and three inches wide, and tar it in the mid¬ 
dle about two inches all around and the 
ants will not get over. It is not best to put 
the tar on the tree, only on the cloth, and 
than remove it entirely when fall comes. 
E. P. Bradford wants to know how to 
get rid of that troublesome pest, 
THE ONION MAGGOT. 
I have been in the same fix, and for some 
years my crop was nearly destroyed by the 
maggot. Three years ago I resorted to an 
entirely different course. I took wood ash¬ 
es, one bushel, and one-half bushel of air- 
slacked lime to each square rod of ground, 
and spread it over the bed to be sown with 
onion seed, and with a fine harrow cultiva¬ 
ted the bed both ways. I then marked out 
the rows and put four quarts of salt in the 
rows where the seed was to be sown. The 
result was a heavy crop of onions and no 
maggots. I have taken this course since 
with the same good result. I must say that 
on the first trial I did not expect to raise an 
onion but would see what the result would 
be. 
In reply to H. W. Sims for “Light Want¬ 
ed” &c., I would say that his description 
of the bug mentioned is not sufficient for 
me to classify it, but would recommend him 
to use three tablespoonfuls of saltpetre and 
three of salt to a pail of hot water, and stir 
till all is dissolved, and when cool wet the 
ground around the plant, as the compound 
is destructive to the life of the bugs that 
burrow in the ground. I would advise that 
he send a specimen of those bugs to Prof. 
J. H. Comstock, of Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., for examination by the En¬ 
tomologist, and for a remedy. 
In conclusion, I would say that nearly 
all bugs that go into the ground at night 
and are out during the day can be destroyed 
by the use of Paris Green and molasses, by 
putting it into some dish with a low rim, 
and put it down into the ground a little so 
they can get on to it without much trouble. 
Bits of Nonsense. 
“Now, darling, will you grant me one 
favor before I go ?” 
“Yes, George, I will,” she said, drooping 
her eyelashes and getting her lips in shape. 
“What is the favor I can grant you?” 
“Only a little song at the piano, love, I 
am afraid there is a dog outside waiting for 
me, and I want to scare him away.”— Phil¬ 
adelphia Call. 
A little girl who was watching a balloon 
ascension suddenly exclaimed: “Mamma, 
I shouldn’t think God would like to have 
that man go up to heaven alive.” 
“Mamma—“And now, Bertie, you have 
chatted enough. Shut your eyes, hold your 
tongue, and go to sleep.” Bertie—“How 
can I do three things at once, mamma ?” 
