The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1449 
Horticultural Notes 
Notes from a Maryland Garden -of cultivated plants, notably corn, pota- 
I have made a new use for dead Canna toes, eggplants. Dahlias, Chrysanthe- 
tops. A stout oleander bush stands out- mums, hollyhocks, peonies and others. It 
side my office windows. I gathered the also lives on several wild plants, especial- 
branches in and tied them closely to- ly ragweed, burdock, pigweed and cockle- 
gether. Then the Canna tops were placed burr, and probably it came over to culti- 
thickl.v around and tied in. The leaves vated plants from these wild plants, 
from the shade trees were piled around The full grown caterpillar is nearly iy> 
the base and covered with more Canna i Q - in length, and as thick as a small lead 
tops and earth to keep them in place, pencil. It bores a tunnel lengthwise of 
The oleander does not mind a freeze down *be stem (see accompanying picture), and 
to 20. but will be hurt at IS above zero, somewhere along the stalk of the infested 
and killed to the ground if much lower, plant one will find a circular opening 
but well bundled with a corn stover through which the borer entered the stem, 
shock they will stand our Winters. Hav- Occasionally this hole will be plugged up 
ing no stover. I have used the next best v’ith the brown waste matter that the 
material. borer has tried to push to the outside. 
Right alongside the oleander is a pleas- ^ben the borer becomes grown in August 
ing bush in the general desolation, its or early September, it changes to the 
broad, glossy green leaves showing Quiet pupa, either within its burrow in 
brightly against the dead maple leaves the stem, or sometimes in the ground, and 
littering the ground. This is Ligustrum ' n about three weeks the pupa trans- 
lueidum, the perfectly evergreen privet, forms to a handsome moth with grayish 
It is reported by the Meehans as doubt- brown front wings, each marked with a 
fully hardy at Philadelphia, but it does w “it 
not lose a leaf here. For any section tbe 
where it will stand the Winter it will e SS s 
make a far better hedge plant than the 
California, for it is a very dwarf variety. 
The plant I see from my window is not 
over 2 ft. high. It never grows over 5 
ft. high. Thus it will need far less prun¬ 
ing to keep it in reasonable size than the 
California. This and the Japonica 
species are very much alike, and both are 
growing in the Botanic Garden in Wash¬ 
ington and are there perfectly evergreen. 
The hardy Amoor River species is ever¬ 
green here, except in Winter like that of 
1917-18. when our water pipes were 
found too shallow in the streets and 
froze the Amoor River, makes a neater 
hedge than the California and is fully as 
hardy. November has been giving us a 
great deal of unseasonable weather. For 
the greater part of one week we had a 
noonday heat above SO. and the morning 
of the 28th the thermometer was well 
above 60 at sunrise. But the northeast 
storm drove it down to 42 on the morn¬ 
ing of the 29th. and promises to keep it 
going down. The mercury touched 32 
three times in November. 
What the Winter is to be of course no 
one can tell, but we would rather have 
it colder than the last one and keep the 
fruit trees back. I knew, many years 
ago. an old Scotch gardener, who was 
born at Abbotsford, being the son of Sir 
Walter Scott’s gardener, who said that be 
had often observed the direction of the 
wind on the 21st of December, and that 
whatever direction it blew on that day 
would be the prevailing direction for the 
Winter. The coincidence does sometimes 
happen, but of course it cannot be a 
rule. Of course if the prevailing wind in 
the Winter it northwest, we will have a 
cold Winter. Those curious about such 
things can watch the weathervane on the 
21st. 
We shall put the glass over the lettuce 
frames today for the first time, for the 
wind has a chill in it that bodes no good 
to vegetation. 
The commercial culture of daffodil 
bulbs has grown to a considerable interest 
in Virginia, and now it is reported that 
they are being largely planted in South 
Jersey. Further South the more tender 
Polyanthus varieties can be grown. I 
have seen far better Paper White bulbs 
grown in Eastern North Carolina than 
the ones imported this season, which are 
uncommonly poor. Candidum lilies can 
also be as well grown here as in France, 
and in our wide area sections will be 
found where all the bulbs so largely im¬ 
ported can be grown. w. F. MASSEY. 
Dahlias Injured by Borers 
I am enclosing some Dahlia stalks, two 
of which have been bored by some insect, 
and two normal. When a plant appears 
to be affected, by close inspection I can 
frequently discover the place of entrance. 
It is usually a foot or two from the 
ground. By splitting the plant the worm 
may be secured. We see no castings, as 
with squash borers. What is the insect? 
Waynesville. N. C. s. c. s. 
Undoubtedly the stalks of the Dahlias 
Were injured by the common stalk borer 
(Papaipema nitela). This is a cater¬ 
pillar that bores in the stems of all sorts 
ish cross-line on the outer third of 
wing. The moth lays its globular 
in late Fall on the stalks of such 
plants as ragweed, dock and pigweed, 
where they remain all Winter, and hatch 
during the following May or early June. 
The caterpillars often kill these wild 
plants, and then leave the dead stems and 
migrate to other plants that happen to be 
near by. In fact, the young caterpillars 
often begin their lives in the stems of 
rank weeds about the edges of gardens, 
and when these become dry or dead they 
migrate to the cultivated plants growing 
in the vicinity. 
It thus happens that the most efficient 
method of control is the complete destruc¬ 
tion of all the weeds that harbor this in¬ 
sect. The wild plants upon which this 
stalk borer lives must not only be kept 
down during the Summer, but they must 
not be allowed to grow up in the early 
Fall and become large enough for the 
moths to deposit their eggs on the stems, 
and thus give the eggs a fine chance to 
pass the Winter and hatch in the Spring. 
Sometimes the stem of an infested plant 
may be split lengthwise and the borer 
killed in its burrow. The slit, of course, 
should be made carefully, and not longer 
than is absolutely necessary. The stem 
ought then to be wrapped loosely with a 
wide strip of thin cloth, taking care not 
to girdle the stem. The borers are usu¬ 
ally found in the stems above the circular 
hole through which the insect entered. One 
writer says that if the plant is too valu¬ 
able to risk slitting the stem, a small 
amount of carbon bisulphide may be in¬ 
jected through the circular entrance hole 
with an ordinary machine oil can. The 
opening in the stalk should then be sealed 
with a bit of soft clay for a few hours. I 
have never tried this method, and am a 
little fearful of injury to the plant. It 
would be well to try its effect on a singF 
plant, and not to use over one-half a tea- 
spoonful. GLENN W. HERRICK. 
Tom : “How do i/ou know that Per¬ 
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