382 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



six inches deep by four wide cut in the center of the front edge. 

 On the two sides and back is an upright sheet about four inches 

 high to prevent the leaf hoppers jumping over. The edges of the front 

 side and notch are rolled up merely sufficiently to prevent the tar on the 

 bottom from running off; one eighth of an inch is ample. The hopperette, 

 as we will designate this collecting pan, is attached to the wheel hoe by 

 two strips of strap iron fastened under the pan as a support and at the 

 other end bolted to the frame of the hoe or fastened in any way that will 

 make it solid. The shaping of these braces and the lowering of the pan 

 depends entirely upon the make of carriage used. The one used in my own 

 experiments was a two-wheeled hoe sold by D. M. Ferry & Co. under the 

 title "Planet Jr." With this machine the pan was lowered five inches 

 below the axle, which brought it very close to the ground and still kept it 

 level. When placed entirely in front the pan can be raised or lowered 

 considerably to conform to the uneven surfaces on the ground. The notch 

 cut in the bottom is a great aid as it permits the plant to be nearly sur- 

 rounded before it is disturbed and all insects are caught that jump to the 

 sides as well as back. Another feature that added considerably to 

 the efficiency of the hopperette was a strong twine string stretched across 

 the notch about four inches in from the edge, as at a. This not only pro- 

 tects the plants from the sharp edges, but causes the hoppers to leap at 

 the right time. If the holes punched for the string cut it, eyelets may be 

 used or a wire about the same size may be used. 



COST OF HOPPERETTE. 



The first cost for collecting leaf hoppers in this way is very slight and 

 it takes comparatively little time in collecting, as a man can pass over a con- 

 siderable area in a day. The pan made of sheet iron cost $1.25. There is no 

 patent on this or the collector spoken of under locusts and they may be 

 made by any tinner. The coal tar used in coating the pan is very cheap. 

 Enough of the tar should be kept in the pan to occasionally run over the 

 bottom and recoat it, and by this means cover over^ refuse material and 

 insects that have accumulated. Those who may wish to purchase a 

 "Planet Jr." for use in the celery fields and for leaf hoppers too will find 

 it listed in D. M. Ferry & Go's catalogue at $4.00. With an outlay of not 

 over $6.00, and a few hours' work, many times that amount will be saved in 

 the celery crop where the little leaf hoppers are at all thick. One may not 

 realize how many there are of them till he stirs the plants and watches the 

 number hop away. In my first trial of the hopperette, the hoppers were 

 not as common as a week or two earlier, but on a row five rods long at 

 least two hundred were caught. 



THE TARNISHED PLANT BUG (Lygus pratensis Linn). 



Obdbe HEMIPTEKA. Family CAPSID^. 



A brown bug that is the caQse of thfl rusty, dead spots and streaks on celery known among growers as 

 one form of "sun scald," bat different from the disease known as leaf spot, which will be treated of 

 later. 



Although not found in such great numbers as some other pests, the tar- 

 nished plant bug is one of the worst with which the celery-grower has yet 

 had to contend. It goes directly to the tender stalks of the plant that are 

 blanching and by means of its beak draws the sap from the stem, and 



