STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 341 



much the most seriously. The bugs pierce the young berries and 

 suck the sap, thus causing in the strawberry, at least a^part of 

 that withering and knotty hardening of the berry known to fruit 

 growers as "buttoning." The crop is often diminished from one- 

 fourth to four-fifths in yield and value by this injury. 



The potato, and other succulent garden vegetables, often 

 suffer from the depredations of this insect; the leaves and tips of 

 the stems withering and turning black under the punctures of its 

 tiny beak. 



There are at least two broods in a year, one maturing in May 

 and June and another in July and /August, and it is possible that 

 there are still others subsequent and intermediate. There are four 

 stages between the egg and the winged form, each corresponding 

 to a moult, or shedding of the outer crust. 



REMEDIES. 



This abundant and widely distributed species, occurring on a 

 great number of plants, and throughout nearly the whole season, 

 one would suppose to be especially liable to destruction by natural 

 enemies in great varieties, but, unfortunately, this does not seem 

 to be the case. Although a very few are eaten by birds, no natural 

 enemy is known to have any appreciable effect upon their num- 

 bers, but there is some evidence that wet seasons are injurious to 

 them. 



The wide-spread occurrence of the species at all seasons of the 

 year, the great variety of plants, both tame and wild, to which it 

 resorts for food, the rapidity with which it breeds and the activity 

 with which it flies from place to place, make any other than re- 

 stricted measures against it quite out of the question. That is to 

 say, there, is little use in trying to diminish its numbers at large, 

 unless a general clearing up and burning of rubbish late in autumn, 

 might possibly contribute to that end. 



The attention of the orchardist and gardener, whose fruits and 

 vegetables are threatened by this insect, must, therefore, be turned 

 rather to measures for defending directly the crops endangered. 



Four methods of procedure have been found effective. When on 

 the twigs of trees, it has been proven profitable to shake the bugs 

 ■off in the cool of the morning, when they are sluggish, into buckets 

 of soap suds or into water upon which a light film of kerosene has 

 been poured. A more rapid and equally effective method of cap- 

 turing them is to sweep or beat the twigs or other parts of plants 



