124 VEGETABLE GROWING O NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Slugs c nd Snails. 



Probably the worst pests that the household gardener has to contend with 

 ara slugs and snails. Slugs are the worst of the two, and often cause sucli 

 havoc among delicate vegetables as to prevent them coming to maturity ; 

 even when that stage is reached, they are not infrequently made unfit for 

 market. 



Dusting with tobacco dust mixed with five times the quantity of ashes, or 

 sprinkling slaked lime around the plants, is recommended for the control of 

 these pests. 



Boards and flat stones scattered about, with a sprinkling of poisoned bran,' 

 (see page 131) around and under them, act ay traps, and enable one to 

 'collect quickly and destroy numbers at a time ; if persisted in for some days, 

 this considerably reduces the number of pests in a plot. 



Obviously, too, heaps of stones, boards or rubbish, if only providing shelter 

 for the pest, should be removed from the vicinity of the crop. 



Slugs also dislike soot, sifted wood ashes, and sawdust wetted with weak 

 carbolic acid and sprinkled along both sides of the row. 



(See also .page 131). 



Spotted Ladybird (Epilachna). 



Much the same damage is done by the 28-Spotted Ladybird (for illustration 

 see page 112) as by the Banded Pumpkin Beetle. Dusting the plants with 

 lime and tobacco dust (see page 130), and spraying with arsenate of lead 

 (see page 129) are recommended as means of control. 



Tomato and Bean Bug, or Green Bug (Cuspicona). 



This cosmopolitan plant bug is quite a modern introduction into our 

 vegetable gardens. It first appeared upon tomato plants in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sydney about ten years ago ; since then it has increased in numbers 

 and for the last few years has been noted as a pest upon the fruits and 

 foliage of the tomato, the foilage and young pods of French beans, and upon 

 potato plants. How far they have extended their range outside the county 

 of Cumberland it is hard to say, but as the species is known in Florida. 

 U.S.A., as an orange pest, it may easily become established in the citrus 

 orchards of New South Wales. 



This bug attacks plants by inserting its beak into the tissue and sucking up 

 the sap. The adult is of a uniform rich green tint and of a typical shield shape. 

 The legs are well developed, and the insect can run and fly very well when 

 disturbed from its food plant, but generally it drops to the ground when the 

 plants are^touched. The female lays her eggs in little patches, side by side, 

 on 1 the surface of the foliage of the young plants ; the baby bugs, when ready 

 to emerge, push off the flattened lid, leaving the empty eggs like glass cups. 



The young bugs on emergence are dark coloured, but during their 

 successive moults they gradually change to a lighter colour, until at the final 

 moult they appear perfect, green shield bugs, with well- developed flying wings. 



