BULLETIN ISrUMBER 23, DECEMBER, 1893. 91 



This insect has long been quite destructive in the vicinity of Baltimore 

 and Washington, and yet it is not diflicult to handle. A very light dust- 

 ing of pyrethruni powder mixed with spoiled flour in the proportion of 

 one to ten, is the cleanest and hest way to treat the first larvae observed, 

 and even without insecticide substances, the daily cutting off of all shoots 

 upon which eggs are observed will serve to effectively check the work of 

 the first brood. As it is the neglected later broods which rapidly multi- 

 ply after the market season is over, which supply the hibernating beetles- 

 that damage the young shoots the following spring, it is quite important 

 to treat these later broods. All voluntary asparagus in the neighborhood 

 of the beds should be rooted up and destroyed and only a few plants should 

 be allowed to grow. These will attract the beetles that are in the immediate 

 neighborhood, and their larvae may be killed in the manner already indi- 

 dicated or by the use of kerosene emulsion, which, if repeated two or 

 three times during July and August Avill serve materially to prevent in- 

 jury the following sjn-ing. 



BLISTER BEETLES. 



The Striped Blister-beetle (^//tw/Za vittata F.) and the Black Blister- 

 beetle {E. pcnnsy/vanica DeG.) were very abundant the latter part of the 

 season, the former feeding upon potato plants in early August and upon 

 beets in early September, and the latter upon carrots in September. A 

 little later a number of complaints were received of damage to chrysan- 

 themums by the black species. The al)undance of these insects may, to 

 a certain extent, be traced to the abundance of locusts or grasshoppers 

 the previous year, since in their larval state both these species are par- 

 tially parasitic in the egg masses of these locusts. During the present 

 year these locusts have been extremely abundant, and there is therefore 

 every reason to expect large numbers of the blister beetles to- 

 wards the close of next summer. The experiments which 

 Mr. Lull made with the arsenical sprays were remarkable suc- 

 cessful. On August 5th he sprayed a potato patch infested 

 with the Striped Blister Beetle ju'etty thoroughly with Paris 

 green, it being well known that the foliage of the potato plant 

 will stand without injury London purple or Paris green in 

 the proportion of one pound of the poison to 75 gallons of 

 i:nim'uia\tt- Water. The carrot patch was similarly sprayed for the black 

 taia, imago, species. The beetles rapidly disappeared from the plants 

 thus treated. In regions where the beetles make earlier inroads into 

 the fields, experience has not been so satisfactory with the arsenical 

 sprays. This is due to the fact that tlie poisoned • beetles fly away and 

 die, and their places are taken ])y later-issuing individuals, thus neutral- 

 izing the treatment. In the extensive l)eet fields of the west it is the cus- 

 tom, when these insects are aluindant, to send men or boys through the 

 field, working with the wind, and driving the beetles before them by 

 short flights. On the leeward side of the field windrows of hay or straw 

 have been previously placed, and into these the beetles are driven and then 

 burned. This is an old remedy that has been successfully used in large 

 potato fields. The damage done to chrysanthemums, aud especially to 



