Success with Small Fruits

by Edward Payson Roe

I also quote the following from a recent editorial by Mr. Fuller, in the New York "Weekly Sun:"

"White hellebore has long been considered one of the most efficacious of all poisons for the imported currant worm, but a New Jersey fruit-grower of considerable experience informed us not long ago that he had found strong tobacco water quite as good as the hellebore, and it was also soon washed off by heavy rains, whereby the fruit was not rendered unfit for use, as when other and more virulent poisons are employed. To make a strong solution, put a half-bushel or bushel of tobacco stems, or even the leaves, into a cask or barrel, and press down and hold in place with a stone or other weight; then pour on hot water enough to cover the tobacco, and leave it for a few days to steep. After steeping, the cask may be filled up with warm or cold water, and the solution is ready for use. If a half-pound or pound of crude potash is added, or a quart or two of soft soap is stirred in, the solution will be much improved, especially in its destructive properties. After using the first liquid, the barrels may be filled again with water, and left to steep a few days longer than the first time, or some fresh tobacco may be added, to give the solution the required strength. Tobacco water is certainly a cheap insecticide, and will frequently be found quite as efficacious as those that are more costly and troublesome to apply."

A gentleman from Erie, Pa., writes to me that he has used this remedy for years, with complete success.

Mr. J. McK. Beattie, of Pictou, Nova Scotia, has written to me of a still simpler method:

"I notice in the April number of 'Scribner's Monthly' that you intend to use tobacco-dust to destroy the currant worms. It will prove effectual; but as I can give you a far more simple plan, I take the liberty of writing. It is one which I have proved for the past seven years, and never have known it to fail wherever tried.

"After digging about my bushes, and manuring in the spring, I cover the earth around the bushes with tobacco stems, and place a handful in the middle of the bush, and the work is done for the season. I found that when using the dust I had to renew it after every heavy rain, whereas the stems did not need renewing, unless it was a very wet season, and then, if any worms appeared, a handful of fresh stems scattered through the bushes made them disappear.

"The stems have several advantages: they are cheaper than dust; they serve as a mulch to keep the ground off the fruit; and when dug in about the bush, they make an excellent manure. I think if you once gave them a fair trial you would never be tempted to try any other method.

"Last year stems were very scarce here, and I could not get enough to mulch all my bushes, so I only put a generous handful in the centre of a good many bushes, and they were not troubled; but I would not like to recommend that plan until I experimented further."

For the past two years the worm has attacked my bushes savagely; but, as I am very fond of currants, and relish white, powdered sugar more than hellebore, I fought the pests successfully by hand-picking. I kept a boy, at moderate wages, whose business it was to kill insects and worms. He had a lively time of it occasionally, for Nature sometimes appeared to take sides with the pests.

The cautious use of lime and salt around and under the bushes might prove beneficial, since the worm descends into the soil before changing into a pupa.