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Show back yarOarmer Interesting Pointers on Gardening Garden-ing for the City Wan or Suburbanite. WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN Advice by an Expert on Agricultural Matters Garden and Plant Pests Dwarf Tomatoes Flower Bed Notes. By PROF. JOHN WILLARD BOLTE. Practically all of the domestic garden gar-den pests can be killed without difficulty dif-ficulty by the proper treatment. Yet few people seem to realize-- this and everywhere we see plants and house flowers struggling for existence and supporting a host of parasites when just a little intelligent treatment would turn these plants from sickly weaklings into hardy producers. Some of the commonest pests, together with the proper treatment to eliminate them, follow: Aphis, or green lice, Is a parasite about one-half the size of the head of a pin green in color and shows but little activity. They are found particularly partic-ularly on the cucurbits, that is, the vines of the cucumber family, and on all sorts of house plants. If ants are present on your outside plants, look out for these green lice. They are sometimes called ant's-cows, for the ants seem to tend them, stroking them with their feelers, when the Aphis gives out a sweet secretion, of which the ants are fond. The treatment for green lice is tobacco tea, which is readily rnade by boiling tobacco stems in water. Spray the plants with a spray gun three or four times at two or three day intervals. Red Spider The red spider is a little lit-tle red bag. It moves rapidly over the plants. Merely a spraying with toDacco tea or plain, clear water will get rid of this pest. Its size is about the same as the green lice. Striped Beetle. The striped beetle is one-eighth of an inch long and the fact that it can fly makes it a danger to any garden. It is found in the soil at the base of the stems of the cucurbits. cu-curbits. It kills the young vines. But, after the vines begin to send off runners run-ners they are safe from this pest. The treatment is powdered white hellibore scattered around the hills and on the plants, or the plants can be sprayed with water and the hellebore helle-bore dusted on, or a suspension solution solu-tion may be made and the plants sprayed. Another treatment is air-slacked air-slacked lime in suspension solution, or cow manure plastered over the ground near the vines. Cut Worms may attack any plant in the garden, cutting it off under the ground. They have a special liking for peas and beans. If young, tender plants die quickly, or you find that the plants from seed are not appearing above ground, look out for cut worms. Mix one pound of bran with enough vater to make a dough; add a table-spoonful table-spoonful of some sirup and another tablespoonful of white arsenic; mix well and scatter a little about the plants. The cut worms will eat this and die. Potato Bugs. This familiar pest can be quickly gotten rid of by spraying spray-ing the potato plants with a suspension suspen-sion solution of Paris green. Spray-two Spray-two or three times to kill the young. Paris green contains arsenic, and in using this or the white arsenic, care should be used, as it is exceedingly poisonous. Tomato Worms. If you find your tomato plants are losing their leaves, lock out for these worms. They are anywhere from three to six, inches in length and as large as three-fourths of an inch in diameter. It is seldom that more than two or three appear in the garden at one time, and they are quickly killed by hand. For Cabbage Worms, dust the plants with powdered hellebore before the heads form. Later dust the hellebore on the outside leaves as the worms appear. A little attention to getting rid of garden pests will well repay in the increased production of the garden. |