The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-07-19
ssHorticalture Is a War with insects. -

This If no figure of speech. Go into the
vegetable garden; would you asparagus p
beetles; would you radish ?-maggots: early
cabbages and caulifowers ?-green worms
and lice above ground, and the club-root be-
low. Would you cucumbers ?-the 'sfea"
apdsstriped bug have something TO say on
that. Ii you like peas, you must also like
Burchts ptsa Ii you would-as all reason
able people shouid-make your pumpkin pie
out OF squash, your chance for the delicious
Marrow, Hubbard or Marblehead Is small, if
you do not pick off that solemn and odorous
bug, C0reus triStis, so as to leave the vines in
good condition, for the borer goes near the
the root of the matter, and the six or eight
feet OF vine that your care has preserved, goes
in night. Tomatoes and egg plants you
feed to fat fellow as big as your finger; and
SO all through the catalogue, from the time
Lne Lrst asparagus shoot comes through the
ground, until the last parsnip is dug. Nor is
it any better in the fruit garden. You have
grown your strawberries in hills for two wears
and now look for grand crop; they were
white with flowers, the fruit set finely, bnt
you find that here and there vine has col
lapsed; tie next day more vines give out you
dig down and find fat, white grub, which
likes what the strawberry produces below
ground quite as well as you do that which it
pears above. The majority of the strawber-
rles may fail, but there are the currants,
which set so full and are already rpening
Look at your early ripened currants, and they
will be found to be still small, and have only
turned red because the borer has taken the
life out of the stem, Rose-bugs will eat up
the grape-blossoms, curculios sting the puMs
and if there are any pears and apples this
year, 1t will be because there were not enough
OF the cooling moth and its allies to 90 round.
Take the ornamental parts of the grounds.
Upon about one half of the shrubs there will
be some kind OF an aphis to curl up and part
ly kill the leaves. You are fond of roses and
precious few do you get. You fight the early
green fly with tobacco water; the later slug IS
dosed with whale-oil or carbolic SOAP. and
when these are in measure vanquished, and
buds OF promise come, you 60 out one morn
ing, and find six or seven rose-bugs at every
opening rose, and those which cannot get
a chance at the opening ones are discounting
the matter by gnawing the buds. If YOU be-
lieve anything will trouble these fellows, lust
try it. AS do not expect to live ANYTHING
like half century longer, can worry along,
and take the few vegetables, frnits and flow
ers these winged scourges and their Larvae
leave me, but my trouble is, as this destruc-
ton increases yearly, to guess what will be
the state of affairs in years to come, unless
something is done TO arrest this devastation:
Unless united action can be had, individual
effort is useless. The Apaches, who make
their raids upon the borders of northern Mex
leo, steal few horses here and few cattle
there, but never break up the settlement, as
mat would be, so to speak, destroying the
nest-egg. Our insects seem to have some
such instinct, and they do not as the grass
hoppers of the West, make a clean sweep.
but leave us just enough to encourage ns 70
60 on and provide food for their PROGENY of
next year. One person can do nothing: INV
neighbor on one side says: "My man tells
me that the worms are eating up his cabba-
ges;'' My neiglfbor on the other side saws:
"Well, | never did see anything like it."
But neither do the first thing to kill the pest.
What good does it do for me to dust and
squirt all the remedies can hear of-and
do kill some-while on each side of me there
is ample provision for next years insects, If a
state has right to legislate against Canada
thistles, have they not the same right to
make laws to prevent the increase Of the