66 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 



or wild food of the beetles which injure his crops. Thus night- 

 shade and Jamestown weed harbor the larvae of the Colorado 

 beetle and flea-beetles which attack potato and eggplant, and it 

 is therefore imprudent to plant crops in fields which have 

 produced such weeds. Injury to corn by corn root- worms is in 

 many cases directly traceable to planting in corn land, and flea- 

 beetle damage to corn follows when this crop is grown in soil 

 previously in grasses which furnish food for their larvae. In 

 the same manner leaf-beetles and flea-beetles which attack beans 

 and beets, breed in such common weeds as lamb's-quarters. 



At the same time that beetles are ravaging our crops, they 

 may also occur on nearby weeds, and for thorough work the 

 insects should be destroyed by poisons or other means on the 

 wild as well as the cultivated plants. 



Poultry and toads are fond of leaf and flea-beetles, and it 

 is recommended to encourage these valuable aids to the farmer, 

 by placing coops of chickens or other young fowl in vegetable 

 gardens and to protect the toads. 



BLISTER BEETLES 



Many species of blister beetles (Mcloidcc) are very destructive 

 to vegetables, particularly in the Southwest, and especially to 

 potatoes and beets, beans, peas, and other leguminous crops. 

 They are gregarious and in their season habitually congregate 

 in great numbers. Some have the migratory habit, feeding 

 voraciously, running with great rapidity, and flying from time 

 to time. Thus it happens that they frequently descend in such 

 numbers on a field that a crop is ruined in a few days, when 

 the insects go elsewhere or disappear and are perhaps seen no 

 more until the following year. After the departure of one 

 species of blister beetle another frequently follows, to be re- 

 placed sometimes by a third. IMister beetles are not an unmixed 

 evil, however, since they do some good in their larval stage to 

 compensate for the harm the beetles occasion to our crops. 



