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Nature is very impartial. It is evidently her intention that we shall enjoy all the fruits for which we are willing to pay her price, in work, care, or skill, but she seems equally bent on supplying the hateful white grub with strawberry roots, and currant worms with succulent foliage. Indeed, it might even appear that she had a leaning toward her small children, no matter how pestiferous they are. At any rate, under the present order of things, lordly man is often their servant, and they reap the reward of his labors.
Did not Nature stumble a little when man fell? She manages to keep on the right side of the poets and painters, for it would seem that they see her only when in moods that are smiling, serious, or grand. The scientist, too, she beguiles, by showing under the microscope how exquisitely she has fashioned some little embodiment of evil that may be the terror of a province, or the scourge of a continent. While the learned man is explaining how wonderfully its minute organs are formed, for mastication, assimilation, procreation, etc., practical people, who have their bread to earn, are impatiently wishing that the whole genus was under their heels, confident that the organs would become still more minute.
The horticulturist should be cast in heroic mold, for he not only must bear his part in the fight with moral wrong, like other men, but must also cope with vegetable and insect evil. Weeds, bugs, worms, what hateful little vices many of them seem in nature! I do not wish to be thought indiscriminate. Many insects are harmless and beautiful; and, if harmless, no one can object if they are not pretty. Not a few are very useful, as, for instance, the little parasite of the cabbage worm. There is need of a general and unremitting crusade against our insect enemies; but it should be a discriminating war, for it is downright cruelty to kill a harmless creature, however small. Still, there are many pests that, like certain forms of evil, will destroy if not destroyed; and they have brought disaster and financial ruin to multitudes.
Mark Tapley hit upon the true philosophy of life, and it is usually possible to take a cheerful view of everything; such a view I suggest to the reader, in regard to the pests of the garden that often lead us into sympathy with the man who wished that there was "a form of sound words in the Prayer-Book which might be used in cases of great provocation." Under the present order of things, skills, industry, and prompt, vigilant action are rewarded. Humanity's besetting sin is laziness; but weeds and insects for months together make this vice wellnigh impossible, save to those who are so unfortunate as to live on the industry of others. Therefore, though our fruits often suffer, men are developed, and made more patient, energetic, resolute, persevering—in brief, more manly. Put the average man into a garden where there were no vegetable diseases, insects, and weeds to cope with, and he himself would become a weed. Moreover, it would seem that in those regions where Nature hinders men as much as she helps them, they are all the better for their difficulties, and their gardens also. Such skill and energy are developed that not only are the horticultural enemies vanquished, but they are often made the means of a richer and a fuller success.
In a valuable paper read before the New Jersey State Horticultural
Society, and recently published in the "American Entomologist," Mr. A.
S. Fuller makes the following useful suggestions:
"Insects and diseases are frequently so closely united, or so dependent upon each other, that the naturalist often finds it difficult to determine to which the fruit grower should attribute his losses. Some species of insects attack only diseased or dead plants; others only the living and healthy. If a plant shows signs of failing, we are inclined to speak of it as being diseased, whether the failure is caused by a lack of some element in the soil, attacks of parasitic fungi, or noxious insects. The loss is the same in the end, whether from one or all of these enemies combined.
"There are two practical methods of combating insect enemies and diseases of plants; one is to so carefully cultivate and stimulate the growth of the plants that they may possess the power of resisting attack; the other is to make war directly upon them by artificial means. Of course, the first method is most applicable or practicable against the more minute species, such as the plant-lice, rust, smut, and mildew. I do not recommend forcing plants to extremes, in order to enable them to resist their enemies, as this might work an irreparable injury; but the condition to be aimed at should be a healthy, vigorous growth; for anything beyond this is more the sign of weakness than strength.
"The half-starved, overworked and uncared-for horse is sure, sooner or later, to become the prey of various kinds of internal and external parasites, which are thrown off, or successfully resisted in their attacks, by the healthy, vigorous, and well-fed animal; and the same principle holds good all through the animal and vegetable kingdoms— whether the subject be a man, horse, sturdy oak, or delicate strawberry plant. Not that all diseases are due to loss of vigor through starvation and neglect; but that a large number of them are is well known."
We all have seen these principles verified. In the Great American strawberry, I think, we have an example of feebleness resulting from over-stimulation. The Wilson Seedling, that, in the local vernacular, is sometimes said to be "running out," is, in contrast, the consequence of starvation, neglect, and long-continued propagation from poor, mixed stock. Feebleness can scarcely be called a disease, and yet it is best counteracted by the tonic treatment suggested by Mr. Fuller.
In loose, light soils, the Aphis, or Green Fly, often penetrates to the roots of strawberry plants in immense numbers, and they suck away life or vitality. The tonic of wood-ashes scattered over the rows will usually destroy the pests. Refuse from the tobacco-factory is also recommended.
I think that wood-ashes and bone-dust are excellent preventives of burning or sun-scalding. They give the plants such vigor that they are able to resist sudden or great climatic changes, from heat to cold, or from drought to moisture.
Many varieties are enfeebled by their disposition to run profusely. Kerr's Prolific, for example, will speedily sod the ground with small, puny plants, whose foliage will burn so badly that the fruit can scarcely mature. Set out these small plants, and give the tonic treatment of cutting off all runners, and large, bushy stools, with vigorous foliage and superb fruit, will result. Indeed, next to fertilizers and moisture, there is nothing that so enhances the vigor and productiveness of a plant as clipping the runners as fast as they appear. The uncurbed habit of running depletes almost like disease; and but few varieties will make large fruit buds and runners at the same time.
In close, wet weather the fruit and leaf stalks will sometimes suffer from mildew; and occasionally a microscopic fungus, known as the strawberry brand, will attack the foliage. I have also seen, in a few instances, a disease that resembled the curl-leaf in raspberries. The plants were dwarfed, foliage wrinkled and rusty, and fruit misshapen, like small, gnarly apples. In all such instances I believe in tonic treatment, of wood-ashes, bone-dust, guano, and fertilizers of like nature, used with care. Plants do not need over-doses or over-feeding any more than we do ourselves. When a few plants are diseased, I believe in rigorously rooting them out and burning them. If a field is affected, as soon as possible turn the plants under, and renovate the land with clover, buckwheat, a light dressing of lime, and thorough exposure to the air, light, and frost. By such methods, and a wise selection of fertilizers, I believe that strawberries can be raised on the same ground for centuries. My plants have always been exceptionally free from all kinds of disease or rust, and I attribute it to the liberal use of wood-ashes.
But there is one enemy that inspires me with fear and unmingled disgust. It is the type of a certain phase of character in society most difficult to deal with, and which the mantle of charity is rarely broad enough to cover—the stupidly and stolidly malignant, who have just sense enough to do a great deal of mischief, and to keep it hidden until too late for remedy. Science has dignified the detestable thing with a sonorous name, as usual—the Lachnosterna Fusca , already referred to. It does not deserve even its name in the common vernacular—White Grub; for its white is of a dingy hue, and its head dark, like its deeds. Has it a redeeming trait? "Give the de'il his due," says the proverb. The best I can say of the white grub is that crows, and an odorous animal I forbear to name, are very fond of it, This fact, I think, is its sole virtue, its one entry on the credit side; but there is a long, dark score against it. Of its havoc on the lawn and farm I will not speak, since it is sufficient for our purposes to state that it is the strawberry's worst foe.
The best method of circumventing the "varmint" is to learn its ways; and therefore I shall outline its history, beginning at a period in its being when stupidity predominates over its evil-that is, when it is the May beetle or June bug, that blunders and bumps around in utter disregard of itself and every one else. In this stage it is like the awkward village loafer, quiet by day, but active and obtrusive in the early evening. It dislikes honest sunshine, but is attracted by artificial light, at which it precipitates itself with the same lack of sense and reason that marks the loafer's gravitation toward a lighted groggery. Moreover, in the beetle phase, it is sure to appear at the most inopportune times and unsuitable places, creating the inevitable commotion which the blunder and tactless are born to make. As it whisks aimlessly around, it may hit the clergyman's nose in the most pathetic sentence of his sermon, or drop into the soprano's mouth at the supreme climax of her trill. Satan himself could scarcely produce a more complete absence of devotion than is often caused by these brainless creatures.
Because quiet by day, they are not out of mischief, as defoliated trees often prove. As midsummer approaches, they die off; but never until each female beetle has put into the ground about two hundred eggs, which never fail to hatch. The first year, the grubs are little, and, while they do all the harm they can, the small roots they destroy are not seriously missed by the plants. The second year, their ability keeps pace with their disposition, and they occasionally destroy strawberries by the acre. More often, certain patches of a field or garden are infested, and sometimes will be kept bare of plants in spite of all one can do. Too often, the presence of the grub is learned only after the mischief is complete. You may have petted a strawberry plant for a year, and after it has developed into noble proportions, and awakened the best expectations from its load of immature fruit, you will, perhaps, find it wilting some morning. You then learn, for the first time, that this insidious enemy has been at work for days, and that not a root is left. An inch or two beneath the dying plant, the grub lies gorged and quiet in the early morning; but if undisturbed it soon seeks the next-best plant it can find, and it is so voracious that it is hard to compute the number it can destroy throughout the long season in which it works.
Having made its full growth in the spring of the third year, this grub passes into the chrysalis state, and in May or June comes out a perfect insect or beetle. It is "one, two, three, and out."
While there are beetles every year, there is, in every locality, a special crop every third year; in other words, if we observe beetles in great numbers during the coming May and June, we may expect them again in like quantities three years after; and every second year from such super-abundance they will be very destructive in all those fields throughout the locality wherein the eggs were laid.
When once our soil is full of them, scarcely any remedy is possible that year. Surface applications that would kill the grubs would also kill the plants. Where they are few and scattering, they can be dug out and killed. Sometimes boys are paid so much a pint. When seeing a wilting plant, it would scarcely be human nature not to dig out the pest and grind it under our heel. Prevention of the evil is usually our best hope. Mr. Downing writes to me: "I believe that if you would use refuse salt three or four years in succession, at the rate of five or six bushels to the acre, the grubs would not trouble you much. Salt will not kill the full-grown larvae, but those in a very young state." The reader will remember a statement in Mr. Hale's letter on commercial fertilizers confirmatory of this view.
Experiments in this direction should be carefully made, since, in one instance that I am aware of, a fruit grower remarked, "I do not know whether the salt killed the grubs, but I know it killed my plants." It is my purpose, however, to try this agent very thoroughly. There is danger of our being misled in our estimate of the value of remedies, from forgetfulness of the habits of the insect. We find our ground full of larvae one year, and apply some cure or preventive. The following spring, the larvae become beetles and fly away, and, even if they fill the same ground with eggs again, the grubs are too small to be noticed that year; and therefore we may claim that our remedy is effectual, when there may have been no effect from it whatever.
One of the best preventives is to keep the soil under cultivation, for this beetle rarely lays its eggs in loose soil, preferring old meadows and moist, loamy, sodded land; the larvae are equally fond of grass roots. This is one of the reasons why a year or two of cultivation must often precede the planting of strawberries. When this fruit is grown in matted beds, they afford as attractive a place for the deposit of eggs as grass land; and this is another fact in favor of the narrow-row system and thorough cultivation.
Mr. Caywood, a nurseryman, says that he has prevented the approach of the grub by mixing a teaspoonful of sulphur in the soil just beneath a plant, when setting it out. Mr. Peter B. Mead recommends the pomace of the castor bean spread on the surface around the plants. I have never tried these preventives. One thing certainly might be done; exterminating war might be waged on the beetles. In the morning they are sluggish and easily caught; and in the evening we can treat them as whiskey venders do the loafers—burn them up. "Every female beetle killed heads off 200 grubs." If one could discover a complete remedy for this pest, he would deserve a statue in bronze. Mr. Fuller had a domesticated crow that would eat a hundred of these grubs daily. "When domesticated," he adds, "the crow forgets the tricks of his wild nature, and, not being a timid bird, he is not frightened by hoe or spade, but when the earth is turned over, is generally there to see and do his duty."
A fruit grower writes to Professor C. V. Riley: "I inclose specimens of a terrible pest on my strawberry vines. The leaves are almost entirely destroyed. I must fight them some way, or else give up the fruit entirely," etc. In a letter to the "New York Tribune," Professor Riley replied:
"The insect referred to is the Strawberry Worm ( Emphytus maculatus ), the larva of a saw-fly, which is of quite frequent occurrence in the West. I quote the following account of it from my Ninth Report:
"'Early in the spring numerous flies may be seen hanging to and flying about the vines in fields which have been previously affected. They are dull and inactive in the cool of the morning and evening, and at these hours are seldom noticed. They are of a pitchy black color, with two rows of large, transverse, dull, whitish spots upon the abdomen. The female, with the saw-like instrument peculiar to the insects of this family, deposits her eggs, by a most curious and interesting process, in the stems of the plants, clinging the while to the hairy substance by which these stems are covered.
"'The eggs are white, opaque, and 0.03 of an inch long, and may be readily perceived upon splitting the stalk, though the outside orifice at which they were introduced is scarcely visible. They soon increase somewhat in bulk, causing a swelling of the stalk, and hatch in two weeks—more or less, according to the temperature; and during the early part of May the worms attract attention by the innumerable small holes they make in the leaves. Their colors are dirty yellow and gray- green, and when not feeding, they rest on the under side of the leaf, curled up in a spiral manner, the tail occupying the centre, and fall to the ground at the slightest disturbance. After changing their skin four times they become fully grown, when they measure about three- fourths of an inch.
"'At this season they descend into the ground, and form a weak cocoon of earth, the inside being made smooth by a sort of gum. In this they soon change to pupae, from which are produced a second breed of flies by the end of June and beginning of July. Under the influence of July weather, the whole process of egg depositing, etc., is rapidly repeated, and the second brood of worms descend into the earth during the fore part of August, and form their cocoons; in which they remain in the caterpillar state through the fall, winter, and early spring months, till the middle of April following, when they become pupae and flies again, as related.
"'The remedy is the same as that employed against the currant worm, which belongs to the same family. It consists of white hellebore, used either in powder or liquid.'"
I think that tobacco dust or a strong decoction from the stems would prove effective, also.
I have never had any experience with this worm, but have read of instances in which fields had been entirely cleared of the pest by young chickens and turkeys.
The common little flea-beetle has often caused great injury to my recently planted beds. I once paid nearly $100 for a new, high-priced variety, and before I was aware of it every plant had been devoured. They rarely injure large, fully matured plants, but are often very destructive to those recently planted, especially if set during the summer. You can not catch them; for, as your hand approaches a leaf on which they cluster, they scatter with a sudden bound, and are at once lost to view, so nearly do they resemble the color of the ground. Slight dustings of dry wood-ashes impede their feeding somewhat; but I think we must cope with this insect as we do with the Colorado or potato beetle. It must be poisoned. Paris green, of course, will finish them speedily, but such a deadly poison must be used with great care, and if there is any green or ripe fruit on the vines, not used at all. Hellebore, London purple, tobacco dust, may destroy them; and when little chickens can be employed, they are a sure remedy.
"Black eyes," or the receptacle turning black, is caused by light frosts, to which the open flowers are very susceptible. If one's strawberry bed were in bloom, and there was a prospect of a frosty night, I think the blossoms could be saved by covering the bed with four or five inches of straw or hay, and raking it off again as soon as the temperature rose sufficiently high in the morning.
Without doubt, new diseases and enemies to the strawberry will be developed in the future, and as they come we must experiment till we find some means of mastering them.
These two fruits are so near akin that they are subject to the attacks of the same diseases and enemies. The most fatal scourge of red raspberries that I have seen is what is called at Marlboro' the curl- leaf; and, if unchecked, it will eventually banish the famous Hudson River Antwerp from cultivation. As yet, no remedy has been found for it that I am aware of. I believe it to be contagious, and would advise that the plants be dug out and burned immediately, and that plantations of strong, healthy plants be made on new land that has never been in raspberries. I also suggest the free use of wood-ashes and well-decayed compost. As far as my experience goes, this disease is confined to foreign varieties, and almost wholly, as yet, to the Antwerps.
Mr. Fuller, in the paper already named, describes a disease among blackberries that resembles the raspberry curl-leaf so closely that it may be identical, and spring from the same cause.
"Some ten years ago, the cultivators of the blackberry in various parts of New Jersey noticed that the ends of the young, growing canes, in summer, would occasionally curl, twist about, and often assume a singular, fasciated form, resulting in an entire check to their growth. The leaves on these infested shoots did not die and fall off, but merely curled up, sometimes assuming a deeper green than the healthy leaves on the same stalk. At the approach of winter, the infested leaves remained firmly attached to the diseased stems; and all through the cold weather, and far into the spring, these leaf- laden and diseased stems were a conspicuous object in many of the blackberry plantations of this State.
"If the infested shoots are examined in summer, thousands of minute insects, of a pale yellow color, and covered with a powdery exudation, will be found sucking the juices of the succulent stem and leaves, causing the crimping, curling, and twisting of these parts as described.
"This parasite resembles somewhat an ordinary greenfly ( Aphis ) or plant louse; but, according to the observations of Professor Riley, it belongs to the closely allied Flea-lice family ( Psyllidae ), distinguished from the plant-lice by a different veining of the wings, and by the antennae being knobbed at the tip, like those of the butterfly, the knob usually terminating in two bristles. These insects jump as briskly as a flea, from which characteristic they derive their scientific name. The particular species in question was called by Professor Riley the 'Bramble-Flea-louse ( Psylla rubi [Footnote: "It can not be distinguished from Psylla tripunctata , Fitch (Catalogue of Homoptera, etc.), and, what is most singular, the same species is very common on pine-trees all over the eastern part of the continent, from Florida to Canada."]),' in the American Entomologist (Vol. I., p. 225). It has increased rapidly during the past half-dozen years or more, and unless fruit-growers make a more vigorous fight than they have yet done, it will soon get the mastery of many blackberry plantations. The only practical method as yet discovered for checking the ravages of this insect is to cut off the ends of the infested canes and burn them. This operation should always be performed either in the morning or during cool, wet weather, else many of the insects will escape; and at all times the severed shoots should be immediately dropped into bags, and in them carried to the place where they are to be burned, and there emptied into the fire. If every one having blackberry bushes in their gardens would practice this method of destruction, this pest would soon cease to do much harm."
There are species of borers and gall insects that attack these two fruits, but as yet they have not become formidable. All infested canes should be cut out and burned with their contents, or else the pests may so increase as to cause much injury.
The larvae of the Selandria rubi , an insect nearly related to the imported currant worm, and known as the raspberry saw-fly, is destructive in some regions. It is semi-transparent, and so like the foliage in color that it could scarcely be detected, did not the ragged, perforated leaves indicate both its presence and its mischief. This worm measures half an inch in length, when fully developed. It has two black eyes, like spots, upon a green head, and usually a slightly fuzzy body. The remedies recommended are the same as those used against the currant worm. I have had no experience with this pest.
The Orange-rust ( Uredo rubrum ) is one of the worst of foes to both the blackberry and raspberry—the Rubus occidentalis , or black-cap family, suffering the most, usually. I have seen fields of the Early Wilson and Kittatinny blackberries in New Jersey that presented a melancholy appearance. It is believed to be very contagious, and it can be spread by both trimmer and pickers. Mr. Chas. A. Green, of Monroe County, N. Y., writes: "The end plant of a row in my garden was affected, and I let it remain, as an experiment. In three years, nearly every plant in the row was more or less diseased. We have tried picking the leaves and cutting back the canes, without relief, and have found that the only safe method is to dig out and destroy all affected plants without delay." Mr. Fuller says that "application of lime, salt, or some similar substance, may check the disease; but I know of no remedy except that of rooting up every affected plant, and burning it." Mr. Downing recommends the same course. It is one of those evils that should be stamped out at once. If a plantation were generally affected with this yellow symbol of contagion, it would be well to destroy all the plants, and, obtaining new, healthful stock from a distance, start again on different grounds. Should the snowy tree-cricket become very abundant, it might cause much injury, chiefly by cutting off the leaves, as the ordinary cut-worm serves the stem of a young plant.
We have not only imported our best currants from Europe, but also their worst enemies. The most formidable of these is popularly known as the currant worm. Robert Thompson, the English authority, thus describes it: "The magpie moth ( Abraxas grossulariata ) deposits its eggs upon the foliage, and from them is hatched a slightly hairy cream-colored caterpillar, spotted with black, and marked with orange along the sides, and which forms a loop in walking. It feeds upon the leaves, devouring all but the petiole, and often entirely defoliating both gooseberry and currant bushes. It changes into a pupa in May or June, and in about three weeks afterward, the perfect insect makes its appearance." Very naturally, this currant worm made its debut near Rochester, N. Y., a great fruit centre, receiving annually large importations of plants. Its first appearance was in 1857.
In England, the caterpillar of the Phalaena vanaria , a similar insect, is often destructive. Whether it has appeared among us yet, I am not informed. They fight it abroad as they do the ordinary worm.
The gooseberry and currant saw-fly ( Nematus ribesii ), another pestiferous foreigner, has made its appearance in some localities.
We have, besides, a native saw-fly (_Pristiphera grossulariae), which resembles its European congener, and emulates it in mischief. The larva of this fly feeds upon both, the currant and the gooseberry, but prefers the latter.
Nature is liberal, and has given us, in addition, a native gooseberry span-worm, the larva of a small moth. These several worms, unchecked, would soon render the culture of the currant and gooseberry impossible in the regions where they abounded; and, at first, horticulturists were almost in despair, for the pests seemed proof against the usual insecticides and means of destruction. It was eventually discovered that powdered white hellebore was a specific remedy. Usually, it is applied unmixed with other substances; and pains should be taken to get a genuine article, or else it will not destroy the worms.
Mr. H. T. Jones, of Rochester, recommends the following:
"To one pailful of wood-ashes, add one quart each of white hellebore and flowers of sulphur; mix thoroughly; apply by sifting on the bushes while the dew is on them. I used nothing else on my plantation of over two acres last season, and want nothing better; but it must be used daily as long as any worms are seen."
I have heard that, if applied in a liquid form, a heaping table- spoonful of hellebore to a gallon of water is a good proportion.
At the meeting of the New Jersey Historical Society, it was stated by good authorities, as the result of actual experience, that tobacco- dust would kill the worms as readily as hellebore. I hope this is true, since the latter is expensive when applied on a large scale, and the tobacco-dust can be bought at from two dollars to three dollars per barrel. I shall try it next year.
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.
The current and gooseberry are also infested with several species of plant-lice. A gentleman whose bushes were attacked by lice and the currant worm at the same time, wrote to the "Country Gentleman" that he destroyed both by a strong decoction of white hellebore, applied from a fine rose-sprinkling can. The bushes were turned back and forth, so as to get the solution on the under side of the leaves. The writer concludes:
"The decoction of hellebore must be strong to be effectual. I make it as follows: To a gallon of boiling water add a tablespoonful of pulverized hellebore. After standing fifteen or twenty minutes, add three gallons of common soapsuds. When cool, apply with a sprinkler, I do not know that there is any virtue in the soapsuds, excepting it makes the solution stick to the leaves."
There are three species of currant borers with unpronounceable names. Their presence is shown by yellow foliage and withering fruit in summer, and by brown, shrivelled branches in winter. Cutting out and burning is the only remedy. Usually, a vigorous bush will outgrow the attacks of this enemy; and good cultivation gives vigor, and also disturbs and brings to the surface the worms that have entered the soil to undergo their transformation. From first to last, tonic treatment supplements and renders more effective our direct efforts to destroy diseases and enemies.
Most earnestly would I urge caution in using all virulent poisons like
Paris green, London purple, hellebore, etc.
Whenever it is possible to substitute a less poisonous substance, do so by all means. Some good people regard tobacco as the bane of banes; but to many it does not cause the feeling of repugnance and fear inspired by hellebore and more poisonous insecticides. Let all such articles be kept under lock and key; and one person should have charge of their use, and be held responsible for them. Moreover, any watering-can used with Paris green and like substances should be marked with the word Poison , in large letters. If insecticides are used in the form of a powder, great care should be exercised to keep it from falling on other vegetation or fruit that might be eaten by man or beast. I have known of pigs and horses dying from eating herbage on which Paris green had blown from a potato field. London purple, which, as a cheaper and equally effective article, is taking the place of Paris green, must be used with the same caution, since it is a compound of arsenic, and equally poisonous.
It is my wish and intention to experiment carefully with the various means and methods of coping with the diseases and enemies of small fruits, and to give this chapter frequent revisions.