Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-14
Many G ard eners Lose
Everything BY Failing to
Cultivate Grounds in Hot
Months
BY +. T.. ROCKWELL

Author of Around the Year in
the Garden" Home Vegetable
Grading" etc. Copyright 1917 by
w. Atlee Burpee g. Co, seedgrowers,
Philadelphia.
If there is one thing more annoy
ing than anything else on earth to
the average gardener, it is to have
some little squint-eyed, yellow
spotted, crab-legged bug. about half
as big as split pea, destroy in few
days the vines he has been carefully
nursing along for weeks; or to find
his late cabbages, or some equally
lusty looking crop, turning pale and
hopeless-looking just because a
bunch of little green lice. that don't
look big enough or strong enough
to survive a good puff of wind, have
camped out in the under side of the
leaves.
They don't seem big enough to be
worth bothering about at first, and
so after killing a few, and cussing
the rest, he let's them go. But they
won't go worth a cent! They stay
right there and go on increasing al
most as fast as the high cost of liv-
ing. They end up like the fleas in
the sad tale Bill Nye used to tell
about his dog; the evening of the
day the poor dog finally died and
was buried, Nye got back from the
funeral and was naturally surprised
TO see what he took to be the dog
sitting on the front step waiting for
him. On closer inspection 1t proved
to be only the fieas, which had got
back from the funeral ahead of Nye,
and had gathered there to ask him
when he was going to get them an
other dog! So il you see the bugs,
worms. BEETLES and plant lice hang
ing around after they have cleaned
up the garden. remember that they
only want to express their apprecia-
tion of past favors and will come
again.
What to Feed a Bug
Since the laws against patent med
icines for people became more strict,
they have taken to making them
for garden pests. There are
half dozen remedies" for every
kind of bug and worm; and as there
are about the same number of in
sects for everything that grods, 1t
looks at first like quite a complicated
problem to know what to do in any
particular case.
But it's not as bad as it looks.
There are three general classes of
garden pests, and with a little OBJ
serv alton you can quickly tell to
which of these any particular in
| truder belongs.
The first are the chewing insects.
! They chew and swllow portions of
| leaves or fruits. They include such
desperadoes as the potato bettle, and
the cabbage worm.
The second are the sucking insects.
They take their meals in the form
! of the plants juices sucked from be-
| low the skin or surface of leaf or
stem of fruit. To the beginner it
often seems impossible that they can
! be the cause of the trouble which
! is apparent. They include the va
rious green, black and blue plant lice
which attack different vegetables
and flowers, scales and some other
bugs" usually soft-fieshed. which
seem to make good living without
visible means of support.
The third are the various mag
gots and root worm and bores which
worg out of sight. and are usually
noticed only when the results of
their nefarious labors suddenly be-
come evident.
Use Right Kind of Poison
! So, while there are a great many
bugs and BEETLES, from the point OF
view of garden protection, there are
only three-those that eat, those
that suck and those that keep out
of sight.
The things which can be used
against them may be simplified in
the same way. For the eating in
sects, use a stomach poison. ArsenatC
of lead is in general the most sat
isfactory thing for this purpose. Il
forms the basis of most of the spe.
cial combinations or trade-name in
secticides, many of which are very
good, recommended for the differ.
ent eating insects.
b..
of lead is practically useless. for the
simple reason that they never swal.
low any of it. What is needed fol-
them is some material that will xii
them by contact. This we have ir
nicotine extract. and in kerosene