164: COLOBADO POTATO-BEETLE. 



Siver, has been comparatively exempt, and the potato crop has been 

 good, especially in the northern counties. 



With respect to that popular remedy, the Faris-green, there is with 

 many people a natural disinclination to the free use of so virulent a 

 poison. This repugnance is founded not only upon its dangerous qual- 

 ities, but also upon a lurking suspicion that its constant use is injurious, 

 though not absolutely poisonous, to the potato. It is more probable 

 that the imperfect quality of the potatoes, where much Paris-green has 

 been used, is owing to the general damage of the plants, both by the 

 insects and the remedy, rather than to any specific poisonous influence 

 of the latter. But, be this as it may, it is undoubtedly true that pota- 

 toes which are known to have been raised without any contact of the 

 plants with Faris-green, will command a more ready sale in the mar- 

 ket than those which have been produced by its use. 



The natural wish to raise potatoes without the use of poisonous ap- 

 plications, has led to a variety of experiments for the purpose of cap- 

 turing and destroying potato-bugs by machinery. One of these ma- 

 chines, which has the important merits of simplicity and cheapness, has 

 been gotten up, the past season, by Mr. George Squires, a successful 

 farmer, residing near Aurora, in Kane county. Having had an op- 

 portunity to see this machine, and to converse with Mr. Squires con- 

 cerning its use, I will briefly describe it. It may be stated, in general 

 terms, to be an oblong shallow box, which is drawn by a horse between 

 the rows, whilst the bugs are knocked into it by brush or paddles work- 

 ing at the sides. It is constructed something in this wise : First, a 

 plain board platform or drag is made, six feet long, and two and a half 

 feet wide, coming within three inches of the vines on either side, the 

 potatoes being planted in rows three feet apart. Upon this are set four 

 posts, one at each of the hind corners, and the other two four feet in 

 advance of them. To these posts the side and end boards of the box 

 are nailed, the sides being four inches and the ends about eight inches 

 high. This leaves two feet in front of the box which serves as a plat- 

 form on which the driver stands. The posts may be made of two-by- 

 four scantling, though it is not necessary to have them so thick. They 

 are two feet high, and set a little flaring so as to bring their tops over 

 the middle of the rows. They are set with their flat sides facing fore 

 and aft, or towards their fellows on the same side. Two inches from 

 the top an augur hole, an inch and a half in diameter, is bored. From 

 the top of one post to that of the other, on the same side, extends the 

 revolving bar, about three inches in diameter, its ends being narrowed 



