American Agriculturist, June 7, 1924 
SPECIAL SALE- 
REAL TASTY BLEND 
^POUNDS 
(delivered free 
r Witb'n 3ocTMitcs 
Once you try Gillies Coffee, fresh from the 
roaster, you’ll always want to order it direct 
from our wholesale headquarters. That’s 
why we make this trial test offer, accepting 
orders for less than 5 lbs. and at the wholesale price. 
If you don’t enjoy it more than any coffee you ever 
bought at anywhere near this price, return it and 
get your money back. 
Send Check , Cash, Money Order or 
pay the postman on receipt of coffee 
GILLIES COFFEE CO. 
23S Washington St. New York City 
Established 84 Years 
A Modern Bathroom, $60 
The JUST one of our wonderful_ bargains. 
Set comprises a 4, 4 Vi or 5 foot iron 
■ i y, enameled roll rim bath tub, one 19 inch 
rriae roll rim enameled flat-back lavatory, 
a syphon action, wash-down water closet 
with porcelain tank, oak post hinge 
seat; all china index faucets, nickel- 
Send for plated traps, and all nickel-plated fittings. 
Catalog 40 J. M. SE1DENBERG CO., Inc. 
254 W. 34 St., Bet. 7th-8th Aves., N.Y. C. 
Keep Flowers Free from Parasites 
The Squash Vine Borer is a Pest that Must be Destroyed 
Will you kindly tell me something about the bug that 
bores in the stalk of cymlins. Just as they are beginning 
to bear nicely the plants turn yellow and die. There is a 
queer looking large grey bug on the plants. Do they 
have anything to do with the dying of the plants and 
what can we do to stop the borer from entering the 
staucs. — M. S. W. 
P ROBABLY the insect attacking the 
stalks of cymlins is the well-known 
squash-vine borer. The parent insect is 
a handsome moth with transparent hind 
wings and opalescent front ones, and with 
the body marked with red or orange, 
while the hind legs are long and orna¬ 
mented with tufts of long black and white 
hairs. ' Unfortunately the acts of this 
moth are not as handsome as her looks, 
for when she appears in the garden in 
June she soon begins to deposit tiny, 
dull-red eggs, perhaps to the number of 
over 200, on the stems and other parts of 
the squash vine. In one or two weeks 
each egg hatches and the tiny white 
caterpillar bores straight into the stem or 
leafstalk of the plants. Here it burrows 
lengthwise of the stem for about four 
weeks, when it becomes full grown and 
about one inch long. It then leaves the 
vine and enters the soil to the depth of 
one or two inches, where it constructs a 
cocoon, changes to a quiet pupa and rests 
there through the winter until the 
following June. This is the weakest stage 
of the insect’s life when it is most open 
to attack by the gardener. 
No very easy way has ever been found 
of getting directly at the borer itself 
while in the vine. The borer may be 
located in the stem by the little piles of 
chewed-up material resembling sawdust 
that are pushed out on the ground 
through small holes which the caterpillar 
makes here and there along the stem. 
When the borer is located the stem may 
be slit lengthwise with a sharp knife and 
the borer killed. The vine should 
immediately be covered at this point 
with fresh earth, so that the wound will 
heal. It is also well to cover the stems of 
squash plants with fresh earth two or 
three feet from the base, so that the vine 
will throw out new roots at this point, 
which will sustain the plant in case the 
main stem is injured by the borer at the 
base. Moreover, it will often pay a 
gardener to keep a lookout for the moths 
in the evening, for at this time they may 
be found resting on the vines and can be 
easily picked off and killed before they 
lay their eggs. 
Kill the Insect in the Cocoon 
The major means of control is to 
destroy the insect while in its cocoon an 
Whatever you buy 
be sure it’s insured 
Hartford 
Fire Insurance 
Company 
Hartford, Conn. 
Gentlemen: 
I operate a.acre farm. 
Please send me a free copy 
of your inventory book— 
“MY PROPERTY.” 
When you buy new furniture for your borne, 
tell the local agent of the Hartford Fire In¬ 
surance Company about your purchase. Do 
this so he may protect you against possible 
loss. For practically every risk the farmer 
takes there is a Hartford policy. 
It is good business to keep an inventory 
showing the value of your buildings, their 
contents, your live stock, equipment, every¬ 
thing that can be destroyed or damaged by 
fire. Use the Hartford book “My Property.” 
It will be sent upon request. Fill out the 
coupon, today. 
INSURE IN THE 
HARTFORD FIRE 
INSURANCE COMPANY 
Hartford, Conn. 
Name 
FEEE 
f 
i 
inch or two below the surface of the soil 
during the fall, winter and spring. Here 
is a long interval in which the pest may 
be got at and destroyed. In infested 
gardens the vines of all melons, cucum¬ 
bers, pumpkins and squashes should be 
pulled up and burned just as early as the 
crop.can be harvested. Then the garden 
should be thoroughly harrowed in at least 
two different directions in order to bring 
to the surface and expose to the action of 
winter weather the cocoons that may be 
resting in the soil. Effort should be made 
to get the cocoons that may be about the 
edges of the garden. Not one of them 
should be missed. Then in the spring the 
garden might well be harrowed again 
before being plowed, while the plowing 
should be done well and deeply so as to 
bury beyond resurrection any cocoons 
that may be left. If the burning of vines 
and the harrowing and plowing are 
carefully and thoroughly done each year 
the pest and its injuries will tend to 
diminish to the vanishing point. 
The “queer looking gray bug” is 
probably the common squash bug, an 
insect that is abundant and very in¬ 
jurious to squashes, cucumbers, melons 
and similar plants. It is very difficult to 
control, but clean culture after the crop is 
harvested, with the destruction of all 
vines in the field, and of the weeds and 
trash in the fence corners and about the 
edges of the garden to eliminate all 
possible places in which the bugs might 
safely hide away during the winter, will 
accomplish much good in the fight against 
this pest. Destruction of the vines and 
half-ripened fruits will also prevent the 
partly-grown bugs from completing their 
growth. 
In the spring, after the garden is 
plowed, many of the old bugs can be 
caught and killed by trapping them under 
pieces of boards placed about at con¬ 
venient intervals. The bugs will hide 
under the boards, and may be easily 
picked up in the morning when they are 
sluggish. If these overwintering bugs are 
killed there will be none to lay eggs and 
start a new crop of bugs. In addition, 
watch should be kept for the eggs as they 
are laid. By turning up the leaves the 
eggs can easily be found, pinched off and 
crushed. 
Tobacco Extract Fatal 
Finally, when the eggs hatch the young 
bugs, while they are without wings and 
more or less soft, may be killed with a 
tobacco extract known as “Black Leaf 
40,” used at the rate of a teaspoonful to 
one gallon of water, to which a piece of 
laundry soap as large as a hen’s egg has 
been added. The bugs must be hit to be 
killed, and a nozzle which turns upward 
will be most convenient, because the 
stream should be directed upward from 
near the ground to hit the bugs on the 
undersides of the leaves. 
The squash bug is a hard insect to fight 
and a hard one to kill. One has to get his 
fighting blood up and keep at it in a 
persistent, thorough manner and with a, 
determination to win.— Glenn W. Her¬ 
rick. 
The Salad Talk was Popular 
B EING a great believer in, as well as users 
of, all kinds of green and fresh vegetables, 
we are still anxious for new and varied reeip^J 
for salads. Your paper, read over WEAr 
was exceedingly interesting and encouraging- 
—Mrs. C. N. B„ N. Y. 
“Enjoyed your lecture immensely and hope, 
to hear you again over the radio. Would 
appreciate very much to get the little pampWe 
of salad recipes.”— Mrs. A. P., N. Y. 
i 
“Accept my best thanks for the recipes 
some of which we shall certainly enjoy on - !ie 
family table. The radio publicity which jou 
are kindly giving to these excellent and time > 
recipes, is surely appreciated by the sensib e 
housewife.”— Mrs. L. C. L., N. A. 
Address 
