VI PREFACE 



certain species of insects. Among other general methods of 

 farming strict cleanliness, including the destruction of weeds 

 and burning over fields after harvest, fall plowing, crop ro- 

 tation, the use of fertilizers, and the selection of the proper 

 place and time for planting, must be considered. A knowledge 

 of the classification of insects sufficient to enable the farmer 

 to distinguish friends from foes is valuable, and finally comes 

 a knowledge of what insecticides and repellents to use and 

 the best means of preparing and applying them. 



Accounts of most of our noxious species of insects have been 

 published. These accounts, however, are distributed through 

 government and state publications, reports of agricultural so- 

 cieties, magazines, and periodical publications of entomological 

 societies, and even the daily press. As an example of the 

 number of such publications on American economic ento- 

 molog>', the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, has cited no less than 12,645 titles that had 

 appeared to January i, 1905, and the number of references to 

 noxious insects is about 72,000. The average farmer has 

 neither time nor opportunity to consult a tithe of these 12,- 

 000 odd works, and it is therefore the object of the follow- 

 ing pages to collate concise accounts of the principal insects 

 which affect one class of crops — vegetables. The order which 

 will be followed is, as far as practicable, alphabetical, begin- 

 ning with the insect enemies of asparagus, and ending with 

 those which affect sweet potato, and finally miscellaneous or 

 unclassified crops. 



The insect enemies of vegetables have not hitherto been con- 

 sidered as a special topic in comprehensive form. Separate 

 accounts, however, on the economic entomology of certain 

 vegetables have been published, for example, of beets and of 

 sweet potato. 



In presenting this work to the public its author does not 

 claim originality for its contents. It is, however, largely com- 



