312 INJURIOUS INSECTS, WITH TREATMENT 



are especially troublesome during cool, dry seasons, when their 

 natural enemies are less active. 



Treatment. Before the plants begin to head, spray with kero- 

 sene emulsion diluted with 6 parts of water or whale-oil soap, 

 1 pound in 6 gallons of water, or use one of the concentrated 

 tobacco extracts. Destroy all cabbage stalks and other crucif- 

 erous plants in the fall. Dip infested plants in soap solution 

 before planting. 



HARLEQUIN CABBAGE-BUG (Murgantia histrionica) . Bug about 

 a half-inch long, gaudily colored with orange dots and stripes over 

 a blue-black ground, feeding upon cabbage ; two to six broods. 



Treatment. Hand-picking. Place blocks about the patch, and 

 the bugs will collect under them. In the fall make small piles of 

 the rubbish in the patch, and burn them at the approach of winter. 

 Practice clean culture. Destroy all cabbage stalks and other 

 cruciferous plants in fall. Early in the spring plant a trap crop of 

 mustard, radish, rape, or kale. When the overwintering bugs 

 congregate on these plants, destroy them with pure kerosene or 

 by hand. 



MAGGOT (Pegomya brassicce). A minute white maggot, the larva 

 of a small fly, eating into the crown and roots of young cabbage, 

 cauliflower, radish, and turnip plants. 



Treatment. Carbolic acid emulsion diluted with 30 parts 

 of water applied the day following the transplanting of the 

 cabbage plants, and repeated once a week for several appli- 

 cations. Remove a little earth from about the plants, and 

 spray on the emulsion forcibly. It has also been found practi- 

 cable to protect the plants by the use of tightly fitting cards cut 

 from tarred paper. 



In seed beds protect the plants by surrounding the bed with 

 boards one foot wide placed on edge, across which a tight cover 

 of cheese-cloth is stretched. 

 Carrot. PARSLEY- WORM. See under PARSLEY, p. 324. 



CARROT-BEETLE (Ligyrus gibbosus). A reddish brown beetle 

 one-half inch or more long, which attacks the young plants. The 

 larva lives in the ground, where it feeds on humus. 



Preventive. Crop rotation and other remedies for white grub, 

 which see under CORN, p. 314. 



