The Midland Journal

Pest and Disease
Control Require
Daily Supervision

Who's going to eat your garden,
you or the bugs? Of course,
the answer is obvious, but you must
do something about it if you are to
do the eating.

Having in mind the importance of
food production in Victory gardens
as essential in the war effort, Mr.
Victory Gardener must regard in-
sect pests and plant diseases in the
same category as
the Nazis and the
Japs—uncondition-
al surrender must
be the terms.

But regardless of
the care and skill
shown in selecting
the garden site, in
the cultivation and
fertilization of the
soil and in the selection and plant-
ing, all such efforts—involving the
use of critical and scarce supplies of
seeds, fertilizers and tools—may
be nullified, or partly so, by the
depredations of insects and diseases
unless steps are taken to control
them.

Information regarding the pur-
chase of insecticides and fungicide
materials may be obtained through
experienced local gardeners, local
dealers in agricultural supplies, lo-
cal seedsmen, general drug
stores or through the county agents,
the state department of agriculture
extension service, or your local
state agricultural college. Or you
may write the United States depart-
ment of agriculture.

Care in Applying
Dust Essential

Particular care should be taken in
applying poisonous insecticides and
fungicides in excessive quantities.
Also care should be taken that all
poison spray or dust is thoroughly
and carefully removed from the foli-
age of any vegetable before it is
prepared for food.

Every gardener should have
available, even before he starts
his planting, a duster or spray-
er for applying insecticides and
fungicides. For small gardens, a
duster is probably preferable be-
cause use of dust is easier than
the preparation and handling of
sprays.

Important is to be ready for the
bugs when they arrive. Of course,
we cannot set down here the proper
preventive or cure for all disease
and insect pests. But start fight-
ing at the first sign of damage to the
crop.

Rotenone-contained insecticide is
essential to have on hand. It is used,

U.S.D.A. Photo

A cheesecloth duster may be used
to dust plants for control of leaf-
hoppers,
especially after fruit has begun to
form, for Mexican bean beetle,
spotted cucumber beetle, flea beetles
on beets and other plants; cabbage
caterpillars, striped cucumber
beetles, melon and pickle worms,
lettuce loopers, pea weevils, Jap-
anese beetles and European corn
borers.

Another necessary insecticide to
have on hand is cryolite, which may
be used for essentially the same in-
sects before the fruit has formed
on the plants.

Bordeaux mixture is also often ef-
fective against all eating insects and
some fungus growths. Nicotine dust
or nicotine sulphate as a spray is
generally used for aphids, or plant
lice.

Insects and Pests
Among Vegetables

There are the general feeders on
plant life such as ants, cutworms,
grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, mil-
lipedes, mole crickets, slugs and
snails, sowbugs, vegetable weevils,
white grubs and wireworms. Most
of these can be controlled with poi-
son bait composed of a mixture of so-
dium fluosilicate or paris green (1/4
pound), dry, flaky wheat bran, five
pounds, and three or four quarts of
water. Prepare in the morning and
apply late in the day.

Vegetable troubles are due to nu-
merous causes, including unfavor-
able soil conditions—too wet or too
dry, too rich or too poor, lack of
humus or lime, weather unsuited to
some crops, careless use of fer-
tilizers, or attacks of fungi or other
parasites.

The control of diseases caused by
fungi, bacteria, and other enemies
requires special additional treat-
ment, as does the damage caused by
insects. The use of disease-free seed
and plants is fundamental to all dis-
ease control. They can be purchased
this year.