L. P. GUNSON & CO., ROCHESTER, N. Y. 61 
A Suggestion for Spinach, Tomatoes and Lettuce 
An application of 50 pounds of copper sulfate per acre has given wonderfully 
increased yields of spinach, tomatoes and lettuce on certain soils. 
Control of Squash Bugs 
They may be controlled by hand picking or by spraying the young bugs with a 
mixture of 1 pint of nicotine sulphate and five to ten pounds of soap in fifty gallons 
of water. The bugs must be hit to be killed. 
Squash Vine Borer 
The squash vine borer is not easily controlled. In small plantings a knife run 
longitudinally through the stem will kill the borer; the stem should then be cov- 
ered with soil to give it a chance to recover. In larger plantings spraying with 
nicotine sulphate may help. Use a mixture of one pint of nicotine sulphate in 
twenty gallons of water and thoroughly spray the stems of the plants. It is not 
necessary to cover more than four feet of the basal portion of the stem. Four 
applications at weekly intervals should be made, starting July 1st or earlier if the 
borers appear. 
To Prevent Tomatoes Cracking 
Potash gives tomatoes a red color and prevents cracking. We suggest a small 
application of potash on a part of your tomato crop. 
Canker of Tomato 
The bacterial canker or Grand Rapids disease of tomato, which has caused 
serious losses in the tomato crops in several states for the past five or six years, 
can be prevented by sterilizing the soil in which diseased plants have grown before 
replanting to tomatoes. Use disease free seed and remove promptly all plants 
showing wilt. 
Tomato Leafspot Diseases 
Two diseases are commonly found on the foliage of tomatoes in this state. These 
are the early blight or Macrosporium leaf-spot and late blight or Septoria leaf 
spot. The early blight is the same as found on the potato, but the late blight is far 
different. The early blight is characterized by brown spots with concentric rings 
on the leaves and black rot spots on the fruit, and the late blight by small whitish 
spots with minute black fungous fruit bodies. Both fungi are carried in the old 
diseased plant refuse and will remain alive, in the soil at least, as long as the tomato 
stems are not completely rotted. The early blight also is carried on or in the seed. 
Related weed hosts may keep the two fungi alive for a long time in any given field. 
Both parasites grow best in wet weather and are aided in their dissemination by 
the splashing of rain. Both require a fairly high temperature for abundant infec- 
tion. Therefore, in a uniformly cool season, the diseases do not spread so rapidly 
Control 
Plow in fall or early in spring to turn diseased tomato refuse and affected hosts 
under deeply. 
Destroy weeds and tomato refuse in the vicinity of the seed beds. 
Use new soil free from tomato refuse for growing the young seedlings. 
Spray or dust the young plants in the seed bed, beginning as soon as they are 
up and continue weekly at intervals until time to set them in the field. Apply 
Bordeaux mixture 3-3-50 or 3-5-50, to which two pounds of arsenate of lime should 
be added, or a copper-calcium arsenate-lime dust 20-25-55. Spray when plants 
are dry, but dust while the plants are wet. 
GROWING HEALTHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS 
All plant growers should beware of Virus diseases. These viruses will not show in 
the young transplants, but later in the season they will destroy the usefulness of 
each infected plant. The most common viruses are those that cause tobacco or 
tomato mosaic, the cucumber mosaic, and spotted wilt. These three are carried 
over winter in the roots of flowers growing in the same greenhouse where vege- 
table seedlings are produced, or in the living roots of perennial weeds surrounding 
the greenhouse. 
Tomato, pepper, egg plant and muskmelon plants especially should not be 
grown in the same house with any flowers. If flowers are handled in another green- 
house, the worker should wash his hands with soap before handling any vegetable 
seedlings. 
The area about the greenhouse or hot beds should be kept free of all weeds. 
