Eighth Report of the State Entomologist. 201 



as destroyed others take their place, until the crop they attack is 

 entirely consumed. Contest with them is hopeless, and may as well be 

 abandoned at the outset, so far as the preservation of the crop is 

 concerned. 



Usually in the New England States and in New York, the beetle 

 does not appear in irresistible numbers, and is within our control. 

 Often this can be accomplished by beating the insects from the plants, 

 at intervals during the day, for perhaps a week or two, into a pan of 

 Mater and kerosene. When occurring in still larger numbers, severe 

 injury from them may be prevented by repeated sprayings with kerosene 

 emulsion. The efficacy of this method is attested by Professor M. H. 

 Beckwith, in Bulletin No. 12, for March, 1891, of the Delaware Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. Prof. Beckwith first tried spraying 

 grapevines, upon the blossom buds of which the beetles had com.- 

 menced to feed on the 27th of May, with London purple of the 

 strength of one pound to two hundred gallons of water. The beetles 

 were entirely unaffected by the arsenite, and not a single dead one 

 could be found as the result. . 



The vines were next sprayed with a mixture of lime and water, com- 

 pletely covering with it the foliage and blossom buds. This applica- 

 tion at first seemed to be distasteful to the insects, and checked their 

 feeding for awhile, but in a few hours they resumed their attack, and 

 completed the destruction of the buds. 



The next experiment was made with kerosene emulsion. This was 

 entirely successful. Rose bushes thronged with the beetles were 

 sprayed with an emulsion of one part of kerosene to nine of water. 

 AVhen the spray struck the beetles they at once fell to the ground. The 

 application was made in the evening, and the following morning many 

 of the dead beetles were lying on the ground underneath the bushes. 

 Several of the sprayed roses containing many of the beetles were 

 picked off and placed in a well- ventilated breeding cage, and in the 

 morning every beetle was dead. It should be borne in mind that the 

 emulsion kills only by contact, and that therefore successive applica- 

 tions of it must be made as often as the beetles reappear upon the 

 plants. It seems to kill all the insects that it reaches. 



Another remedy for this most pernicious insect is found, upon the 

 testimony of Professor J. B. Smith, of the New Jersej'- Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, in the sludge-oil soap, manufactured by the 

 Columbia Chemical works, at Brooklyn, N. Y. It was tried upon the 

 beetles, when api)earing in full force in New Jersey, after everything 

 26 



