232 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 1902 



and trapping can be used to good effect ; but, when the insects are in very large num- 

 bers, as was the case in some places last summer, all remedies seemed insufficient. The 

 usual remedies are : 



(1.) Hand-picking, early in the season, of the old bugs, when they first resort to 

 the plants, and also of the easily seen egg clusters. This requires an inspection of the 

 vines every day or two. The young bugs may be easily destroyed with a spray of 

 kerosene emulsion, or of whale-oil soap. This work is made much easier if a few hills 

 of the ordinary squash are planted among melons, cucumbers, &c, so that they appear 

 above the ground about a week before the crop. The squashes being more attractive, 

 the bugs collect upon them, where they may be destroyed easily. 



(2.) Trapping. — This consists of placing, at intervals through the plantation, 

 shingles or pieces of board, beneath which the bugs gather for shelter. By examining 

 these every morning, many may be captured. In a season when the bugs have been 

 abundant, all vines should be burnt as soon as the crop has been gathered. In this 

 way, many of the insects in all stages of development will be destroyed. 



The Striped Cucumber Beetle (Diabroiica vitlata, Fab.). — The injuries to 

 cucumbers and melons by the Striped Cucumber Beetle during the past season were 

 exceptionally severe and extended over the greater part of old Canada. Mr. S. C. Parker, 

 of Berwick, N.S., speaks of it as particularly troublesome in Nova Scotia. At Berwick 

 very few squash or pumpkins survived. In his own case, he planted squashes and 

 cucumbers three times, the first two plantings being eaten up entirely. Frequent 

 mention of injury by this beetle is also made in the Nova Scotia Crop Report for 

 November. The most apparent injury is that done by the hibernating brood of beetles 

 which attack young plants early in the season, and a little later the flowers, as soon as 

 they open. The larva is subterranean in habit. It is a slender, wormlike creature, 

 white, with a dark head, which attacks the roots and bores inside the stems. 



As with the Squash Bug, a perfectly satisfactory remedy has not been so far 

 discovered. The treatment of the larvae in the ground has proved impracticable, except 

 on a small scale. The greatest success has been obtained by covering the young plants 

 with a square of cheese cloth, kept raised by two flexible sticks crossed at right angles 

 and with the ends stuck in the ground. The cheese cloth is held down easily by putting 

 some earth on the edges. By the time the plants have grown so as to require the 

 removal of the covering, many of the first brood of the beetle will have disappeared. 

 As an insecticide, Paris green with land plaster (1 pound to 50) dusted over the plants 

 has proved more effective than several others which have been recommended ; but 

 when the insects are in very large numbers, the plants are gradually eaten up, although 

 large numbers of the beetles are destroyed. Other remedies which have given satis- 

 faction in years when there was not excessive abundance of the beetles, are land plaster 

 or ashes impregnated with coal oil or turpentine, scattered in small quantities on each 

 hill. Tobacco dust from cigar factories, when obtainable, acts as a repellant to the 

 beetles and also as a fertilizer. Pyrethrum powder is deadly to the beetles, but requires 

 frequent renewal. 



POTATO PESTS. 



The potato crop has been very uneven ; and good crops were exceptional. Small 

 crops were. I think, chiefly due to climatic conditions. In some parts of Bri- 

 tish Columbia, as down the Okanagan valley, many plants in a field would turn 

 yellow and wither without any apparent cause, which would account for the death of 

 the plants. The tubers in most cases were small but free from disease, and the leaves 

 and stems showed none of the well-known fungous diseases. The hot, dry weather of 



