Cutworms and Young Trees.
What method should be used to protect young fruit trees from cutworms?
Hoe around the trees or vines and kill the fat, greasy grubs which you will find near the foliage. Put out a poisoned bait which the worms like better than the foliage, viz. Bran, 10 pounds; white arsenic, 1/2 pound; molasses, 1/2 gallon; water, 2 gallons. Mix the arsenic with the bran dry. Add the molasses to the water and mix into the bran, making a moist paste. Put a tablespoonful near the base of the tree or vine and lock up the chickens.
Control of Squash Bugs.
We are troubled with pumpkin bugs. Please tell us what to do for them.
When the bugs first make their appearance in the field they can be easily disposed of by hand picking and dropping into a bucket containing about two inches of water with about one-fourth inch of kerosene on top to kill the bugs. The picking should be done in the morning, as the bugs are apt to fly in the warm part of the day and scatter where already picked. Two persons can pick over an acre in one and a half hours, and two pickings are usually sufficient for a season, as after the vines begin to run over the ground pretty well the bugs will not be able to hurt them much. A pair of thin old gloves will help to keep off one's hands some of the perfume from the bugs. The sooner the work starts the fewer bugs to pick. Cleaning up of all old vines in the fall and removing litter in which the mature bugs hide for the winter will permit less eggs to be laid in the spring and there will be fewer bugs to pick as a result.
The Corn Worm.
Last year all my ears of corn were infested with maggot, growing fat thereon. Can you help me scare them away?
You have to do with the so-called corn worm which is very abundant in this State and one of the greatest pests to corn growing. It is the same insect which is known as the boll worm of the cotton in the Southern States. No satisfactory method of controlling this has been found, although a great deal of experimentation has been done. Nearly everything that could be thought of has been tried without very satisfactory results. A late planted corn has sometimes been free, for the insect is not in the laying stage then. If it were not for this insect the canning of corn would be an important industry in this State.
Melon Lice.