Connecticut western news., 1884-07-02
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CROPS.
Remedies Suggested for the Cabbage Flen,
 Cut Worm mud Other Pests.

 Remedies Suggested for the Cabbage FIen,
 Cut Worm mud Other Pests.
 
 Prof. $. T. Maynard, of the Massa chusetts Agricultural College, in a bull letin recently issued, gives brief state ment of the remedies thus far found to be most successful, in his experiments, upon insects injurious to farm and gar den crops.
 The first insect of importance that ap- pears is the small black flea, or jumping beetle, that attacks the cabbage, radish, turnip, etc. Dusting with Paris green mixed with one hundred times its weight of plaster has proved an effectual remedy. This must be .done when the plants are wet and after every rain.
 The cut worm, of which there are sey- eral species, including the army worm, work only at night, and may be de- stroyed by the same remedy as the above. A trial is advised of pyrethrum powder, mixed with five times its bulk of plaster, as being more safe, although there is no positive proof that it will be effectual.
 The striped squash bug, which has been so abundant for the past two sea- sons, is best kept in check by the use of plaster and Paris green. For the family garden the safest and most satisfactory way to overcome them is to make a bot tomless box, twelve inches square and six or eight inches deep, and cover it with mosquito netting. One of these boxes placed over each hill until the plants have become tough and hard is a sure protection.
 The potato beetle has evidently be come a permanent resident among us. Paris green extended with plaster, flour or water, is the only cheap and easily applied remedy known at present, but great care must be exercised in its use. and especially in the place where the package is kept, that it may not get upon the food of animals.
 The cabbage worm, the larv@ of the common white butterfly, may be easily destroyed in several ways. That of hand picking, if begun before the first brood hos passed into it's perfect state, is efTectual. It has also been found that pyrethrum powder mixed with five times its bulk of plaster and dusted into the centre of the leaves with sulphur bellows, is certain destruction to every one of them. The application. of in- secticides in liquids to tho cabbage has not been satisfactory on account of the peculiar structure of the leaf surface, which allows the water to roll off in drops and not adhere to any part of it. Paris green is unsafe to use after the leaves have become over four inches il diameter.
 The currant worm should be destroyed, while small, with the dust of hellebore or pyrethrum. The latter being per fectly harmless, is to be more highly recommended.
 There are two certain methods of cap turing the plum weevil-the first by iarring the tree early in the morning and catching them upon sheets stretched below upon frame or upon the ground, and the second by placing chicken coops under the trees. The former method must be attended to regularly every morning for three weeks after the plums have set, and in the latter case, If the number of trees is large, large flock of chickens will be required to make that remedy effectual.
 No positive remedy against the ray ages of the coddling moth has yet been found. It is claimed that Paris green sprayed over the tree in water is effectual: but should it prove so, 1t \ far too dangerous remedy to apply where grass or other crops are growine under them.
 For the destruction of the apple and peach borer no sure remedy has beer found except the knife. It is probable that covering the trunk of the tree neal the ground with the ink or tar used tc catch the moths of the canker worm ol wrapping around the trunk bands o tarred paper would assist in keeping them away.
 The rose bug has thus far been th' most difficult to overcome of the whol' tribe of injurious insects, and no remed, can be recommended with great degree of confidence, but the trial of the fumeI of gas tar held under the vines for short time every evening while tn grapes arc forming is advised. It i certainly offensive to them, and if use' carefully need not injure the plant
 The rose slug is easily destroyed b, spraying with water and pyrethrum a the rate of one tablespoonful of tn latter to pailful of the former.
 IsOlating COnyicts.