The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming.Shaw, Ellen Eddy
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The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming.
Shaw, Ellen Eddy
Gardening -- Juvenile literature
"Carbon bisulphid comes in little tin cans. It is a liquid of a vile
smell, something like onions and rotten eggs mixed. The girls' noses are
going up sky-high now. But it does the work of ant killing. You must be
careful in handling this. It has a horrid explosive habit. Pour about a
teaspoonful down an ant hole. Do not use a good silver spoon from the
dining room. Get an old spoon, or buy a tin one. For you will never use
it again except it be for carbon-bisulphid work. After this liquid has
been poured down the hole, place a bit of a chip over it, for there may
be a slight volcanic action underground. It is well to do this on a
damp, cloudy day when all the ants are at home.
"Remember this stuff is not to be fooled with, as it is poisonous and
also takes fire readily. Never open the can inside by a fire, in too
great a heat, or near a lighted match. Invite your fathers to help in
this. By no means do anything silly. Keep the can closed except when
pouring out a teaspoonful.
"This question is constantly being asked, 'How can I tell what insect is
doing the destructive work?' Well, you can tell partly by the work done,
and partly by seeing the insect itself. This latter thing is not always
so easy to accomplish. I had cutworms one season and never saw one. I
saw only the work done. If stalks of tender plants are cut clean off be
pretty sure the cutworm is abroad. What does he look like? Well, that is
a hard question because his family is a large one. Should you see
sometime a grayish striped caterpillar, you may know it is a cutworm.
But because of its habit of resting in the ground during the day and
working by night, it is difficult to catch sight of one. The cutworm is
around early in the season ready to cut the flower stalks of the
hyacinths. When the peas come on a bit later, he is ready for them. A
very good way to block him off is to put paper collars, or tin ones,
about the plants. These collars should be about an inch away from the
plant.
"Of course, plant lice are more common. Those we see are often green in
colour. But they may be red, yellow or brown. Kerosene emulsion is the
medicine for plant lice. Lice are easy enough to find since they are
always clinging to their host. As sucking insects they have to cling
close to a plant for food, and one is pretty sure to find them. But the
biting insects do their work, and then go hide. That makes them much
more difficult to deal with.
"Rose slugs do great damage to the rose bushes. They eat out the body
of the leaves, so that just the veining is left. They are soft-bodied,
green above and yellow below. Since they are eating insects Paris green
will kill them. But the kerosene emulsion penetrates their soft bodies;
so this also may be used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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