CONTROL OP GARDEN DISEASES AND INSECTS. 



43 



BACTERIAL BLIGHT ( STKWAKT's DISEASE). 



In bacterial blight the affected plants die by wilting and drying 

 up. The leaves usually wilt one after another. The plant may live 

 for a month or die in four oi" five days. If a cross section is made 

 of the stem, in about 

 five minutes a yellowish, 



sticky substance will ooze ^*^^^«*^ .^-^-^v*^ \^ \Wj 



out from the cut ends. 

 The midrib of the leaves 

 is similarly affected. 

 Some varieties are some- 

 what resistant. 



Eotate crops and de- 

 stroy infected plants. 



SMUT. 



Fig. 47. — The stripefl cucumber beetle {Diabrotica 

 Smut is characterized rittato) ■■ a. Beetle; h, larva; c, pupa. Much en- 



by the appearance of laigea. 



large, irregular boils on the ears, tassels, or other parts of the plant, 

 covered at first with a white membrane, but later breaking open and 

 scattering dirty masses of spores. 



Cut and burn the smut boils before they burst. 



CUCUMBER. 



STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE. 



The striped and 12-spotted cucumber beetles 

 occur throughout the eastern United States. In 

 other regions several other species occur, all closely 

 related, having very similar habits and yielding 

 to about the same remedies. The common form 

 is known as the striped cucumber beetle (fig. 47), 

 sometimes called the striped bug, melon bug, or 

 " cuke " bug. The beetle measures about three- 

 sixteenths of an inch in length. It is j^ellow above, 

 with black head and wing covers bearing three 

 black stripes; whence the name. The worm, or 

 larva, is slender and white-brownish at each end. 



Injury is due mainly to overwintered beetles 



older 



Fig. 48. — Striped cu- 

 cumber beetles feed- 



ins on a cucumber mating tender plants. They also injure 



after frost has plants, eating leaves and gnawing stems and r(K)ts. 



killed the foliage. ^j^^ ^^^^1^^ usually appear in April or May. 



Only one generation has been observed thus far. The beetles late 



in the season congregate about the stems and leaves of cucurbits 



and later seek shelter, frequently remaining until the first cool nights 



