528 Report of the Entomologists op the 



With regard to remedial measures, Mr. Robbins says : " Many 

 methods have been suggested as the most desirable ones for 

 keeping these insects under control. The old hen with chickens 

 is the best (dead sure) exterminator to date. The older fowls 

 will do as good service, but they scratch over the ground and 

 injure the young shoots of asparagus. It is almost impossible 

 to keep the beetles from destroying the seedlings or young plants. 

 Kerosene emulsion is probably the best preventive, but I believe 

 it would be almost impossible to start a new bed of asparagus 

 in this section of the country, for the beetles seem to be most 

 hungry when they first wake up in the spring, and, as the grass 

 is kept cut short on the old beds, they swarm on anything that is 

 allowed to grow up. A method for controlling this insect re- 

 cently recommended is as follows: 'Take an old woolen cloth 

 and rub the eggs off the shoots of asparagus.' I think a bed 10 

 feet square would keep one busy, and for a bed of five acres 

 it would be too expensive." 



There are still other methods recommended for controlling 

 this insect, one of which is the liberal use of lime, the lime being 

 dusted on the infested brush. One grower on Long Island who 

 was starting a new bed of asparagus of seven acres succeeded 

 in keeping the beetles in check by knocking the larvae off from 

 the brush in the heat of the day. The ground between the rows 

 was kept well cultivated so that when the larvae fell upon it they 

 were unable to crawl back to the asparagus and would soon 

 perish in the hot sun. Two men were required for about two 

 hours each day for three weeks, after which time there were 

 but very few eggs, larvae or beetles to be found on the bed. 

 This grower planted the rows of his asparagus seven feet and a 

 half apart. Thus the larvae oould be brushed off the asparagus 

 so that they would fall about midway between the rows and 

 yet be far enough away from the plants to prevent their re- 

 turning. The soil in this bed is a very fine sand, which makes 

 this method of combating the beetles more practical than it 

 would be in many other cases. The larvae are very clumsy when 

 on the ground, and especially so when on loose soil. This ac- 



