166 
House & 
Garden 
MAINTENANCE of a park-like lawn 
need not be a source of great expense, 
when one man with an Ideal Power Mower 
can do the work of from three to five with 
hand mowers. 
The operator need not be a mechanic. 
An unskilled laborer can do perfect work. 
Consider the saving in wages and you will 
understand why an Ideal Power Mower 
quickly pays for itself even on lawns of 
medium size. 
Write for prices and illustrated literature 
Ideal Power Lawn Mower Company 
R. E. Olds, Chairman 
403 Kalamazoo St., Lansing, Michigan 
New York, 13-19 Hudson St., Chicago, 11 E. Harrison St. 
Dealers in all Principal Cities ( 42 ) 
IDEAL 
Power Lawn Mowers 
Ideal Junior mozvs a swath 
22 inches zvide and cuts 
from 3 to 4 acres a day. 
Ideal 30-inch mower cuts 
a 30-inch swath and mows 
from 6 to 7 acres a day. 
A disease resulting 
from Fusicladium pyri- 
num causes the pear to 
harden and split in all 
directions 
SPRAYS FOR GARDEN INSECTS 
I NSECTS and disease continue to 
menace man’s food supply. Millions 
of dollars are annually lost through 
these ever encroaching pests. They not 
only swoop down upon the farmer, but 
they also worry the backyard agricul¬ 
turist and the window gardener. The 
prolificness and variety of form of 
these two classes are amazing. In fact 
every imaginable kind of injury can be 
found. 
Of insects, the most common types 
of pests fall into two classes based 
upon their food requirements. The 
biting or gnawing species are those 
which actually masticate and swallow 
some portion of the solid substance of 
the plant as the wood, bark, leaves, 
flower, or fruit. These are most readily 
destroyed with poisons which may be 
safely applied to the leaves or outer 
part of the plant where they will be 
swallowed by the insect 
with its food. The 
other class are the suck¬ 
ing insects. These grad¬ 
ually injure the plant 
by reducing its vitality 
as they extract the 
juices either from stem, 
leaf, or fruit. They 
do not touch the outer 
part of the plant, but 
insert a sharp pointed 
beak thru the outer 
layer of plant cells in¬ 
to the inner soft succu¬ 
lent tissues. For this 
type only those sub¬ 
stances which will act 
externally on their 
bodies as caustics, or 
which will smother or 
stifle them by closing 
their breathing pores, are effective. In 
addition both classes can, under certain 
restricted conditions, be controlled with 
poisonous fumes. 
On the other hand the assemblage 
of disease fungi is enormous. Such 
destructive parasites depend upon the 
living plant for food, and number, 
among others, the mildews, rusts, rots, 
molds, and smuts. In general they can 
be controlled by spraying. 
Humid atmospheric conditions and 
much rainfall are exceptionally favora¬ 
ble for the growth and spread of the 
diseases. In spraying, the fundamental 
point is that it is a preventive and not 
a curative. When a disease is once es¬ 
tablished it can not usually be elimi¬ 
nated by spraying. To be most 
effective the fungicide must be applied 
before infection takes place. 
The most important chemicals used 
in the checking of dis¬ 
eases are the com¬ 
pounds of copper and 
sulphur. Copper it¬ 
self has long since been 
recognized as the 
deadly enemy of plant 
life, traces being often 
sufficient for the com¬ 
plete destruction of 
algae, tiny microscopic 
plants, commonly 
found in reservoirs and 
water mains. 
The most well 
known fungicide is 
Bordeaux mixture 
which consists of a 
solution of copper sul¬ 
phate with milk of lime. 
A stock solution is pre- 
( Cont. on page 168) 
Mycospliaerella fragariae 
causes the destruction of 
strawberry leaves 
The corn smut is one of the most 
destructive of fungi attacking 
corn and produces a swollen 
tumorlike growth 
The bean blight attacks all parts 
of the bean; on the pod it pro¬ 
duces spreading , discolored, 
watery spots 
