Dusting and Spraying 
VA 



Plants become ill just as human 
beings do. When you walk or work 
amongst them in your garden, watch 
out for trouble. You are your gar- 
den’s physician. Anything that looks 
wrong probably is wrong; a spot on 
a leaf, a leaf eaten away, tiny objects 
clinging to a branch, etc. 
First, just what will you meet up 
with: Gardens are attacked by, (1) 
insects, (2) diseases, and (3) mis- 
cellaneous pests. 
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1. INSECT PESTS 
Insects must eat—that is why they 
come after the growing things in your 
garden. There are two main kinds: biting 
insects, and sucking insects. The biters 
are controlled with stomach poisons 
placed on the leaves they eat. The suck- 
ers do not get their food from the sur- 
face of the plant, but from its juices, and 
must be fought with “contact insecti- 
cides” which will kill them in other ways. 
2. PLANT DISEASES 
Fungi or bacteria may be the cause of 
the trouble if you are unable to discover 
actual insects about a troubled plant. 
These are controlled with spraying or 
dusting of the plant. In some cases, the 
soil must be disinfected. In still other 
cases, when you find that the disease is 
transmitted by an insect from one plant 
to another the insect has to be controlled. 
3. MISCELLANEOUS PLANT 
PESTS 
These include gophers, slugs, snails, 
squirrels, etc. 
HOW TO IDENTIFY GARDEN 
PEST TROUBLES 
The best way is to know the appear- 
ance of a plant after it has been attacked, 
and to have pictures and descriptions of 
each pest. Remembering here the differ- 
ent kinds of pests, biting and sucking in- 

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sects, f{ungous and bacterial diseases, and 
the miscellaneous pests, we shall talk 
about each in turn. On the following 
pages you will find tables listing the va- 
rieties of pests you may have trouble 
with, what harm they do and how to 
control them. 
BITING INSECTS 
When you come across leaves which 
seem to have been eaten away in part or 
entirely, or roots, tubers, or another part 
of a plant with an eaten look, your gar- 
den is being visited by biting insects. 
Some biters burrow into fruit and lay 
eggs there. Some tunnel into other parts 
of the plant. 
Most of the biting insects can be killed 
with lead arsenate. All the control meas- 
ures given in this chapter are sold under 
various trade names. 
In the table, you will notice, most of 
the biting insects are beetles, caterpillars, 
grasshoppers and worms and the chief 
remedy is lead arsenate spray or dust. 
SUCKING INSECTS 
Some times you will shake a flower 
and tiny specks like pepper will fall out 
of it. Or you may see a leaf unnaturally 
curled, and sticky to touch. At other 
times a tiny insect will jump from a leaf 
if you disturb it. 
You may see a cluster of things like 
minute barnacles or little eggs clinging 
to a stem or twig. Or you may not see 
any actual insects, but only a strange 
yellowing of the leaves, tender young 
leaves stunted and curling, distorted 
buds, discoloring of the plant, blacken- 
ing, fungous growing in a sticky mass of 
honey-dew, stunted flowers, or little galls 
on stems or the upper parts of leaves. 
When you notice any of these signs, 
the trouble is some sucking insect or 
other. None of them do all of these 
things; each has its specialty. 
Note on the table on the next page that 

[13] 
a combination oil nicotine spray is the 
remedy in most cases here, and that the 
pests are spiders, and the tiniest mites, 
bugs or flies. 
FUNGOUS DISEASES 
If there are gray, powdery growths on 
your plants; tiny red, brown or black 
pustules (elevations looking like pimples 
or blisters) ; holes in the leaves, red spot 
on the fruit; dying buds; soft brown 
spots; curled, distorted leaves; black 
spots on your Roses; or premature falling 
of leaves—the trouble is probably fungi 
(microscopic plant organisms, living as 
parasites on your plants). 
Note, in the table, the importance of 
Bordeaux mixture in controlling fungous 
diseases. 
BACTERIAL DISEASES 
When your leaves, twigs or branches 
die in an unaccountable manner, they 
may be attacked by some bacterial dis- 
ease or blight. Potatoes, tomatoes and 
celery so attacked may sometimes be con- 
trolled with Bordeaux mixture. Peaches 
and walnuts are probably doomed, how- 
ever, although you can try the same con- 
trol measure with them. It is sometimes 
effective with peaches. 
MISCELLANEOUS PLANT PESTS 
Most of the time you will see them “in 
person,” and so will know that they are 
around. Snails can either be hand picked 
and stepped on (wear gloves if you are 
squeamish about handling them) ; or can 
be killed with poisoned bait. 
Other pests which succumb to poi- 
soned bait—and usually one preparation 
will do for them all—are sow bugs, slugs, 
and earwigs. Special commercial ant poi- 
sons are on the market, one of the best 
being light poison which does not kill the 
ants at once. They are attracted to it, 
drink their fill, return to their hills and 
feed it to the young; thus the entire col- 
ony is exterminated at its source. 
Moles are caught with regular mole 
traps. Squirrels, gophers and rabbits are 
discouraged with poisoned barley, which 
you can also buy. Success has been had 
in gopher control with fumigating bombs 
which are ignited, dropped in the holes 
quickly, and the holes covered at once. 
Gophers, however, are best trapped. 
