A Fight With the Bugs. 
A square fight with the bugs and worms 
must begin early. The curculio must be 
met as soon as the plums and cherries are 
dropping their petals. He begins to sting 
before the calyx bursts from the fruit, 
while waiting for cherries he will do a vast 
amount of damage among apples and pears. 
The only r remedy yet devised is to shake the 
trees and catch the fellows # on a cloth large 
enough to spread under the whole tree. 
Then quickly get down and pick them up 
and crush them. They will pretend to be 
dead for a few moments after falling, but 
will be up soon and off. You must be lively. 
They prefer plums by all means to cherries, 
if there are trees enough. Trees in a chick¬ 
en yard are partly protected by the bugs 
being devoured. 
Squash bugs must next be faced. They 
come down in a cloud and .do their work 
so promptly that in an hour your splendid 
vines are ruined. Box your hills when 
planted, and if the bugs then assail them, 
dust with white hellebore. Kerosene wa¬ 
ter may be used if special care is taken not 
to put into a pail of water over one teas¬ 
poonful of kerosene. This remedy is ex¬ 
cellent for the big stink-bug that comes a 
little later. Saltpeter and other remedies 
are not of the least avail. 
For rose slugs, sprinkle with water in 
which you have two spoonsful of hellebore 
and one of kerosene. Keep a pail standing 
for a few days to use when necessary. 
Whale-oil soap, and such stinking com¬ 
pounds should never be used. They are 
worse than the slug. No one can go near 
a rose-bush for a week after the vile stuff 
has been used. I would rather not have a 
rose. The remedy I give is absolute, and 
generally only one application is necessary. 
I have about two hundred rose-bushes 
which I go over in one hour, and the pest 
is gone for the year. 
Now conies the currant worm, which 
must be treated precisely as the rose slug. 
At its first appearance give it the kerosene 
and hellebore water. But it must be well 
applied. If the worms come when the 
fruit is near maturity leave out the kero¬ 
sene; for it sticks the hellebore to the fruit 
and it might not be entirely safe. Applied 
earlier the rains entirely wash it off before 
picking time. 
Kerosene oil is the general specific against 
almost all vermin when it can be applied. 
It is death to chinch bugs and a sure cure 
for lien lice. Apply it freely to the roosts, 
and pour a little into the nests. It will 
work more effectually than sulphur or lime, 
although they are valuable and effective. 
Kerosene is death also to potato bugs; but 
must be applied with care. 1 am using the 
same mixture that I use for rose slugs and 
currant worms—one spoonful of kerosene, 
two of hellebore in one sprinkling pail of 
water. 
It is equally useful for mites and fleas 
that infest turnips and many varieties of 
vegetables and flowers. I have not tried 
it on aphis, but propose to do so soon, and 
do not doubt its efficacy. 
The cabbage worm is most safely destroy¬ 
ed with a stick sharpened to press into the 
foldings of the leaves and crush the fellows. 
Hot water is a remedy; but it is likely to 
kill or spoil the cabbages. It is not safe. 
Hellebore and similar poisons are likely to 
remain in the head. The kerosene water 
is not sure of hitting the worms. 
Worms’ nests on the apple trees and 
lawn trees are best killed when killed early. 
Those that cannot be reached by hand may 
be easily burned out with a roll of cotton 
tied tightly or wired on the end of a pole 
and saturated with kerosene. Carry some 
matches, and when you come to a nest,, 
light and apply. A place may be thus 
in a few years nearly rid of worms. A man 
never has a true deed of property that the- 
worms and bugs over-run annually. Decen¬ 
cy also requires a cleaning out of the vermin., 
I am in sight of a fine piece of property 
where insect armies have full control, and 
breed in numbers sufficient to over-run all 
the rest of us. 
Let any one who has trouble with bugs 
or insects of any sort try kerosene. It is 
our jianacea. Use discretion in applying it 
to vegetation. As a general rule, one 
spoonful to a pail of water is enough, and 
is safe.— E. P. Powell , in The Independent. 
To be certain of getting a bite when you go fishing, 
jt is well to take one along, even if it is a cold one. 
