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Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James), 1848-1923

"One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered"

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.


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