CONTI^OL OF GAEDEN DISEASES AND INSECTS. 



17 



tilizers, especially kainit, as a heavy top-dressing are of benefit. 



Gas lime is valuable. (See p. 10.) Hogs, if allowed the run of the 



newly plowed garden, or when the crop is off, will eat large numbers 



of grubs. Domestic fowls will 



pick up grubs on newly plowed V'^'m^yf 



land. See Farmers' Bulletin 



543, " Common White Grubs." 



WIREWORMS. 



Wireworms, like white grubs, 

 are common pests in the garden 

 and are also general feeders. 

 They are the offspring of snap- 

 ping beetles, or " snap-bugs," 

 and are of long oval form. (Fig. 

 12.) Their tastes are similar to 

 those of the white grubs. They 

 attack and often do great injury 

 to potatoes-and other plants bear- 

 ing tubers, as well as to carrots, 

 beets, sweet potatoes, and onions. 



Control. — The remedies advised 

 for white grubs apply also to wireworms, with due care in selecting 

 land for planting and in fall plowing and crop rotation. Wire- 



FiG. 12. — The common wireworm (Melano- 

 tus communis) : a. Adult ; 6, larva ; c, last 

 segments of same ; d, pupa. All enlarged. 



control than white grubs. 



BLISTER BEETLES. 



Blister beetles (fig. 13) are common farm 

 pests and are very destructive to vegetables, 

 especially beans, peas, potatoes, and beets. 

 They travel in the same manner as army 

 worms and are sometimes called " army 

 beetles" for this reason. They are hungry 

 feeders and travel frequently in lines, eating 

 everything in their path, chewing up ap- 

 FiG. i3.-The ash-gray parently more than they need for food, 

 blister beetle (Macrobasis They are slender in form, somewhat soft 



f7uTeZlrlT' '"*'" bodied, and colored variously. Some species 

 are perfectly black, some are yellow with 

 black stripes, others are of the same color with several light stripes, 

 some are gray, and others are gray spotted with black. Blister 

 beetles are particularly abundant in the Southwest, but occur prac- 

 tically everywhere. Different species appear at different times, 

 ■ 106342°— 17— Bull. 856 3 



