a 
11 
ST 
with success, as helps in starting a sudden 
growth, by applying them carefully in the 
hill or drill, after ploughing under a liberal 
dressing of manure; especially when the 
manure used is coarse, this is good practice, 
as it give£ an early start to the vegetation, 
before the manure has time to decompose 
sufficiently for good plant food. It is, 
however, very important to mix these 
chemicals thoroughly with the soil, and 
not to allow them to come too close to the 
roots of the plants in any quantity; they 
are too strong and too acrid to be safe, ex¬ 
cept when largely diluted.— W. B. Phil- 
brick, in N. E. Farmer. 
- ftSM 1 -- 
Bean and Pea Weevils. 
BY M. B. DUMBELL. 
Last year some one in Seed-Time and 
Harvest asked a remedy for the pea wee¬ 
vil. At the time I thought of sending a 
recipe I use to keep the weevil out of my 
seed peas, but then I thought it would be 
the best to wait until the time came round 
for growing peas, so I now send it. But 
just let me say I do not know of any way 
of preventing the weevil from laying its 
egg in the peas. It makes no difference 
if you do sow sound peas, if your neigh¬ 
bors sow peas with the weevil in theivs, 
you will be sure to have them in yours. 
For a number of years all the peas I have 
grown have been of the dwarf kind, there 
are so many and such good dwarf peas now 
that I don’t find it worth the trouble to 
grow those kinds that need brush to sup¬ 
port them. It sometimes happens like it 
did last year, that heavy and long con¬ 
tinued rains for the last half of spring and 
the early part of summer make it difficult 
to grow dwarf peas, the rain beats the pea 
vines into the ground and covers them 
with mud which causes them to rot badly 
and especially it is difficult to save seed for' 
another year. When such is the cause 
with those peas I intend for seed, I go over 
them and turn the vines over all on one 
side then get boards and lay flat along the 
peas, throwing the vines over on the boards, 
when if rain comes it soon runs off the 
boards and no mud can get to the peas. 
When the pods are gray and the vines 
begin to turn yellow, I pull them up by 
the roots and put them in a shed, where 
there is a free current of air, but where 
the rain can not get to them, turning them 
over two or three times a week. When 
the vines are dry I thrash the peas out, 
take up a few and try if I can indent any 
with my thumb-nail, if I can they are not 
dry enough, so spread them out for a few 
days more, but if I cannot notch any of 
them I know they are just right for what 
I want to do. Having a kettle of boiling 
water ready I get a colander, such as the 
women strain cooked cabbage through, (a 
sieve would do as well) also a tin wash 
basin that will hold about one gallon, and 
measure into the basin one quart of peas, 
then I pour into the basin a quart of boil¬ 
ing water, stir the peas for a moment, then 
instantly dash them into the colander; give 
it a shake and immediately empty the peas 
on a cloth and spread out on a bench in the 
sun being caref ul not to let one pea stand 
on another. I then repeat the process as 
before until all the peas are scalded, letting 
the peas dry for five or six hours, then 
store away in tin boxes so vermin will not 
get to them. This process is no theory but 
a fact. It is something I have been doing 
every year for over a dozen years. I never 
have any bugs in my peas, and ninety-five 
out of every hundred will grow if the peas 
are sown the following year. This process 
instantly kills the germ of every weevil 
that is in the peas, but it must be done 
as quickly as hands can do it, otherwise 
it will not only kill the germ of the weevils, 
but also the germ of the peas as well; in 
such a case the peas would do for the table 
but not for seed. I have no doubt this 
process would do equally as well for beans, 
for I see by Seed-Time and Harvest the 
weevils have begun to infest that vegetable 
also. 
•- -- 
/ PHASES OF FIFE. 
BY W. B. DERRICK. 
The “poetry of life” is seen 
In every bud and flower; 
The “prose” in ripened grain is read. 
And speaks with greater power. 
First, there must come the tender blade. 
And then, ’tis very clear, 
Next comes the corn, and then we have 
The “full corn in the ear,” 
Baileyville, III. 
