The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-12
THE FARM AND THE GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO HOUSE
WIFE AND AGRICULTURIST

Some Notes on Garden Insects-Pota-
to Bugs and How to Kill Them.
How TO Mix Inseeticides-Grass ms
Preventive of Pear BIight-The
SOFA Bean.
AS has been remarked before in this
column early planting of Irish potatoes
need not be encourag ed under any
idea that by so doing the potatoes will
have a better chance of escaping the
potato bug" Cold as the early spring
was this season the bugs came out of
the ground almost simultaneously with
the coming up of the potatoes. At
any rate we observed as many as
to 3 beetles upon plants that had
not been up longer than a week
The beetles that hibernate, those
that live through the winter in the soil,
come out of the ground very irregu-
larly. Between the earliest and the
very last to make their appearance
there is as much as several weeks diff
ference. If there were an interval of
not more than a week in their complete
terminate them. This season the eggs
of the first brood did not begin to
hatch out before the first of May and
none Of this hatch had completed it's
larva stage on the 10th of this month
The larva stage of this first hatch Of
| eggs is the most destructive to our
| early potatoes. If these are allowed 20
have their own way for a week the
potatoes are doomed.
If not called for before by any
chance it will be necessary to resort
to poison TO destroy this first array OF
iarva; In this stage they are readily
| destroyed by pyrethrum Cor BuhachD
| powder busted over the plants with the
| aid of a small bellows
The usual remedy at the North is
| Paris Green-2 to 4 ounces to 25 gal
| Ions, kept will stirred into the water
While being applied. London purple"
is used by many in place OF Paris
| Green.
except in a very small patch = is
Holly to attempt saving a cror 4 : hand
! picking or crushing hy nand the first
crop of beetles and their eggs. we
have made almost careful experiment
| in regard to this matter Owing to
the lrreg~iar appearance of the first
! brood OF beetles it is almost an inter-
Die job killing them. AS in the
| case of the Lincoln or Harlequin bug
/ that Is such an enemy to all the Bras
! slca family and horse-radish we be-
| lleVe 1t would pay to have a catch
| crop for this potato enemy and the
| only way IT can be effected is, we be-
| lleNe, by setting apart the seed end
OF the potatoes while cutting them up
! Tor planting. These seed ends of the
! potatoes planted very shallow-on a
| not 1,
patch, Will come up from one to two
! weeks earlier than the main crop
! planted deep and with the stem and
middle cuts of the potato. The curly
! beetles will flock to the catch row and
a Eood application of poison will settle
| them.
Thus far in our observation the only
other garden plant infested by the
potato beetle is the eggplant Being
more tender even than the potato it
Is not practicable to use il as a catch
plant after the manner of using horse
! radish plants for the Lincoln bug to
protect the young cabbages in early
spring. So far we know of no hardy
plant that is infested by the potato
beetle. If there We're such it would be
| possible to have it ready for hlrn in
| March and thus divert him to his de-
| structlon before the potatoes were up.
| AS the matter stands we must resort
either to Paris Green or Scheele's
Green or insect powder.
The Harlequin bug is on hand in
large numbers this season. and as
strong a fight for cabbages will have
to be made as for potatoes. The green
worm and the cut worm are both
less in evidence than has been the
case in several years Let us be
thankful that we haven't the Mexican