64 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



hills might, however, be planted to serve as a decoy to concentrate the 

 attack — the vines with their contained larv^ to be destroyed before 

 the time for pupation. The parent moth seldom flies to any distance 

 for oviposition, if the larval food plant is at hand. 



Proteciing by netting. — Covering with netting, as a method of pre- 

 venting the deposit of eggs, by stretching netting (mosquito netting) 

 upon a large frame, of perhaps eight feet square, over the plants, as 

 has been suggested, I regard as well worth the trial. If the 

 frames be used upon ground where the squash has not been previously 

 grown, and where the insect is not already in the soil, it should prove 

 an effectual preventive, if the eggs are all deposited near the root. But 

 if oviposition is made, as has been stated by some writers, along the en- 

 tire vine to its end, then the frame could prove but partially protective. 

 Might it not be possible, by late planting, to limit the growth to the area 

 of the frame until the time for the deposit of eggs shall have passed ? 



Cutting out the larvce. — Until recently, no other method of protec- 

 tion from this insect than that of cutting out had been suggested. It 

 has been largely employed and, where the attack has not been severe, 

 has proved effectual. A little practice renders one very expert in de- 

 tecting the locality of the hidden depredator, in slitting the vine with 

 the point of a pocket-knife and removing the larva. When, however, 

 thousands have to be destroyed in order to insure the crop, the method 

 is quite unsatisfactory. It certainly is not reliable under the great in- 

 crease of the insect in recent years, as stimulated by the increased cul- 

 tivation of the Hubbard squash. 



Bisulphide of carbon in the ground. — In a paper read before the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Boston, in 

 1S81, Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural College, announced 

 that he had found bisulphide of carbon to be an effective remedy against 

 the squash-borer. The method was given as follows : " A small hole is 

 made in the earth near the main root of the plant by the use of a walk- 

 ing stick or other rod, and about half a teaspoonful of the liquid poured 

 in, when the hole is quickly filled with earth and pressed down by the 

 foot. In every instance the insects were killed without injury to the 

 plant." I regret to be obliged to state that the above claim has not been 

 sustained by farther experiments. Prof. Cook, upon inquiry made by 

 me, informs me that later trials with the material have failed to kill the 

 borers, and he can no longer recommend its use for the purpose. 



Rooting the plants at their joints. — Mr. Henry Stewart, of Bergen 

 county, N. J., the author of many valuable notes on insect habits and 

 depredations, has given the following as his method of dealing with the 

 borer : 



