Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-03-24
GARDEN PESTS
and HOW TO BE
RID OF Them.

| and there. That is what gardens mean
to some persons, but others may have
/ recollections of other things-weeds
! and insects and pests in general which
seem to flourish and grow hardy with
disconcerting persistence. But pests
are really not so bad If one knows a
/ few formulate and preventives and
! cures. And here are some, tried and
| true.
Perhaps the first pest which one
| thinks of is the one which endangers
the roses. for IL is distressing to see
! the perfection of a rose married. The
! four greatest enemies to- roses are the
| green fly OF aphis the rose slug, the
rose bug, and mildew Colonies of
green flies collect on a young rose
| bush and sap away the plant juices.
Wet the plant thoroughly first, so that
| the application will adhere, and then
either spray with tobacco solution or
| dust with tobacco powder
For the rose bug, the light green
worm that eats the leaves, whale oil
soap is the best, one pound dissolved
in eight gallons of water. One ounce
of paris green to ten gallons of water
will also cause great discontinue to
the light green creature.
Everyone knows the brownish, hard
shell rose bug, and everyone knows
that it is a good fighter for life. The
grub of this bug is destructive to the
roots of the bushes. The only solution
of this problem is constant watchful-
ness and steady care in picking the
bugs off by hand every morning or
knocking them off on q sheet. Flowers
of sulphur busted on widowed plants
is effective, as is also Bordeaux Mix
ture, one pint in to s gallons of
water.
There is an amazing lot of things to
be done, and a still more amazing lot
Of ways in which they can be done.
And there is always the danger of
destroying something which should not
be destroyed. Bees and tree crickets
ard ground beetles and dragon flies
and lady bug beetles and wasps and
lace-wing flies and hornets and garden
spiders and lizards and frogs and
toads-these things should be permit
ted 20 live Why? Well, because bees
are useful as pellenizers and are the
means of the continuance of much
plant life, and because dragon flies
make way with insects which are
crickets feed on plant lice. and ground
beetles eat these insects which are
underground, and so on with all the
others. 1t seems as if there must be
some reason also for the life of all the
pest" insects, whose only known bus
mess is to destroy plants, and perhaps
some Cay it will be discovered.
OF the kinds which must be destroy
II ~. I'D n fnl,
affect garden vegetables, fruits, and
flowers. and the. insects and fungi
which harm plants and trees. Black
berries and raspberries affected by
rust should be sprayed with Bordeaux
mixture before the buds swell in the
spring, and this treatment should be
repeated every two weeks. substituting
copper solution when the fruit is color
ing and ripe. One gallon of Bordeaux
mixture should be dissolved in fifty
gallons of water One quarter of cop
per solution should be dissolved III
twenty-five gallons of water. For slugs
on these berries use arsenate of lead,
or hellebore, in solution, one ounce to
three gallons of water. If the fruit is
ready, use rather Persian powder or
slug shot.
To free potatoes from potato scab
before planting they should be thor
oughly washed, then soaked for an
hour and half in one pint of for
maldehyde in fifteen gallons of water.
If they are then dried, cut, and planted
in the usual way they will be all right,
unless they again become infected by
contact with the contents of contami-
mated sacks.
For insects that eat fruits, foliage,
and flowers, such as bugs, worms.
slugs, caterpillars, etc., use poisonous
insecticides, arsenate of lead, Paris
green, or hellebore. If non-pcisonous
remedy is more desirable, use Persian
powder, slug shot kerosene emulsion.
fir tree oil soap, tobacco extract, and
tobacco dust. The last four of these
are the only things to be used for in
sects that suck the juices of plants,
also lice, black and green fly, red spid-
er, mealy bug, scale, and others. Bor-
deaux mixture, ammoniated copper So
luton, and flowers of sulphur are best
for mildew, spot, dry rot, rust, and
other fungous diseases affecting plants
and fruits.
Insecticides and fungicides should
never be used when fruits are in bloom,
for they kill the bees and affect poili-
nation. Wax and whale-oil soap can
be obtained for eggs on the bark OF
trees, tree insects on trunks. For bor-
ers in the trunks of trees use small
amount of carbon bisulphide elected
from a spring bottom oil can, and then
close the hole with clay or putty. This
bisuiphide can be procured at almost
any drug store.
A spray pump. knapsack, sprayer,
syringe, or vaporizing bellows, is the
best way TO apply insecticides and
fungicides in fluid solution, while for
preventives which come in powder
form, powder gun, bellows, or buster.
can be used. Arsenate of lead should
always be applied as a spray. 1t is a
good poison to use because it is white
and can be readily seen, and does not
injure tender foliage. Use from one to
three pounds to forty-gallon barrel
of water, according to the tenderness
of the vegetation.
There are other things, not SO COM
monty thought Of as pests, as are in
scots and worms, but which none the
less truly answer to that descriptive
mama These are weeds and slime on