CHAPTER X 

 INSECTS AND DISEASES 



There is scarce'/ a vegetable crop grown which 

 is more susceptible to the attacks of insects and dis- 

 eases than are those plants which belong to the Cu- 

 curbitacese family, to which belong the melon, 

 cucumber, squash, etc. Some of these pests are 

 common to all, while others confine their attacks, for 

 the most part, to one species. 



The plants are attacked at all stages, even the 

 seeds are often attacked before germination by a 

 maggot which eats into them, thus destroying the 

 germ ; and by mice and ground squirrels, which de- 

 vour them. And so from the time the seeds are 

 placed in the ground until the fruit is harvested one 

 is compelled to keep a watchful eye upon them in 

 order to prevent injury from some one or more of 

 the two dozen or more species of insects and dis- 

 eases which are common to this family. 



INSECTS 



Among the insects which are common to the 

 melon and cucumber probably none are more uni- 

 versally scattered over the melon-growing region, 

 and, possibly, none are more dreaded by the melon 

 and cucumber growers, than is the 



Striped Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica vittata. 

 Fab.). — This little beetle is so generally known that 

 a detailed description of it here is scarcely necessary, 



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