Though not always done, I would recom¬ 
mend that the bed be covered with hay, 
straw or leaves, about the middle of Decem¬ 
ber in this latitude (the fortieth parallel) 
and earlier farther North. Make the cover¬ 
ing two or three inches deep, placing it 
over the plants as well as the space between. 
This is allowed to remain undisturbed until 
the plants begin to show signs of life the 
next spring, which will be early in April. 
Then push the mulch a little aside, to allow 
the plants to get through, but do not remove 
it from between them, as it will keep down 
weeds, shade the roots of the plants, and 
keep clean the large berries you will be 
sure to have in June. 
Hand-Picking- Potato Bugs. 
Mr. T. B. Terry of Ohio, one of the most 
successful potato growers in the country, 
who formerly used Paris Green to kill the 
bugs, has picked them off by hand for the 
past six years and says he can’t afford to use 
the poison, let alone the danger of having it 
round. The expense last year of hand-pick¬ 
ing 24 acres was only thnee-eighths of the 
cost of poisoning. Children are glad of the 
work at 50 cents per day and board and 
even if men were thus employed he says in 
the Ohio Farmer it would be cheaper than 
the poison. The secret of hand-picking is 
to pick the very first bugs that come, and 
then force the plants by having a rich soil 
frequently cultivated. He used to try to 
pick the bugs clean, but he has since learned 
to let a picker walk between two rows and 
when he sees a bug he picks it up, puts it 
in an old tin fruit can carried in the other 
hand (a little shake now and then will 
keep them from crawling out,) straightens 
up and goes ahead until he sees another. 
Sometimes he will get several at one stoop, 
but no attempt is made to get them clean, 
but only to pick what are in sight and go 
on. Begin early and they will not get 
thick. At the end of each row have a large 
covered pail into which the bugs are emp¬ 
tied until it is full, when they get a hot wa¬ 
ter bath. ‘*What few larvae do hatch out 
in spite of us we brush off with a long 
paddle into a pan. The paddle has a handle 
long enough so one can stand up straight 
Occasional raps on the pan with the paddle 
keeps the bugs from crawling out until we 
get to the end of the row, when they are 
dumped into the pail. If it costs me twice 
as much as usual to keep them off this 
year, I shall not growl, but shall expect to 
get well paid for my trouble in the fall. 
The large grower of specialties has much 
the advantage in this matter of bugging. 
It costs me but little more to keep the bugs 
off of 24 acres than it did off of 12.” 
A New Idea in Growing Fodder 
Corn. 
For fodder corn I prefer the Evergreen 
Sweet. Instead of sowing I plant it in rows 
eighteen inches apart and one foot between 
the hills, marking the rows and guessing 
the distance in the row. I cultivate out 
two or three times. That hastens the growth 
and the stalks contain more nutriment 
and are eaten with a better relish than 
corn sown broadcast. 1 put three kernels 
in the hill as near together as possible. I 
commence cutting by cutting alternate 
rows, leaving it in rows three feet apart. 
At the second cutting I cut every other hill. 
By so doing it lets in the sun and what 
remains ears out so that at the last cutting 
I not only have some for the table but 
enough to give my hog a lively start toward 
the pork barrel. Select a suitable spot of 
land so you will not be obliged to carry it 
too far. The most rapid way to plant it is 
with a corn planter.— J. A. Plielps, New 
Haven County, Conn. 
Fight the Peach Borer. 
June is the time to fight the peach borer. 
All that is necessary is to examine the bod¬ 
ies of the trees and extract the grubs with 
a sharp-pointed blade of a knife. They will 
be found just beneath the surface of the soil, 
and their presence will be readily detected 
by the gum formed from the exuding sap. 
As a preventive of the borer, J. T. Lovett 
recommends to place at the base of each 
tree a shovelful of slacked lime or several 
of coal ashes, but we have not found either 
of these effectual. 
