ASPARAGUS BEETLES AND THEIE CONTROL. 9 



the plants. In the vicmity of the District of Columbia this was 

 particularly noticeable in the case of the larvae of this asparagus 

 beetle. Its eggs, also, seemed to be dried up by the heat. What 

 with the decimation caused by their natural enemies and that caused 

 by the heat, scarcely a beetle or larva was to be found that year 

 after the last of August. 



METHODS OF CONTROL. 



Fortunately the common asparagus beetle is not difficult of control 

 and ordinarily may be held in repression by the simplest means. 



GARDEN REMEDIES. 



Hand-picking is of some value in small beds but must of necessity 

 give way to more approved methods for the vast numbers of the 

 beetles that concentrate their forces upon the large areas devoted to 

 this crop in the suburbs of our large cities. 



Chickens and ducks are efficient destroyers of asparagus beetles, 

 and as they do no injury to the plant their services are still in requisi- 

 tion for this purpose at the present day. 



One of the best remedies against the larvae is fresh, air-slaked 

 lime, dusted on the plants in the early morning while the dew is on. 

 It c^uickly destroys all the grubs with which it comes in contact. 



Pyretlirum is credited with being useful, and a mixture of soft 

 soap, quassia decoction, and water (about equal parts of the first 

 two to five of the last) is effective against the larvse. 



These remedies, with the exception of air-slaked lime to destroy 

 the larvse, hardly commend themselves for use on a large scale. 



CULTURAL PRACTICES. 



A practice in high favor among prominent asparagus growers is 

 to cut down aU plants, including seedlings and volunteer growth, in 

 early spring, so as to force the parent beetles to deposit their eggs 

 upon new shoots, which are then cut every few days before tl :e eggs 

 have time to hatch for the first new brood. 



Other measures that have been employed with advantage consist 

 in cutting down the seed stems after the crop has been harvested, 

 and again once or twice during the cutting season, or in permitting 

 a portion of the shoots to grow and serve as lures for the beetles. 

 Here these may be killed with insecticides, or the plants, after they 

 become covered with eggs, may be cut down and bunied, and other 

 shoots allowed to grow up as decoys. The trap plants should be 

 destroyed as often as once a week. Natm-ally when the insects have 

 congregated on the tips early in the cutting season, arsenicals and 

 other substances can not be applied and it is necessary, therefore, to 

 cut as deeply and as often as possible without injuring the product 

 for the market. 



