INJURIO US INSECTS- 331 



or even green leaves, on the ground, close around the vines. 

 The bugs appropriate these as hiding places during the night. 

 We may then go around each morning, early in the season, be- 

 fore the eggs are laid, and gather and destroy the bugs thus 

 concealed, and soon extirpate the cause of the evil. These 

 morning visits must be so early that the insects will not have 

 yet left their hiding places. If the eggs are laid before we cap- 

 ture the bugs, we should either gather the eggs from beneath 

 the leaves, or continue the same process narrated above to get 

 rid of the young. 



In all cases where mature insects come forth in the spring, 

 of course in limited numbers, as with the potato beetle, the 

 squash bug, etc., we shall save very much by early battle ; and 

 if we can persuade our neighbors to engage with us, the late 

 battles and the battles of succeeding years will be but skir- 

 mishes. 



The past summer I have killed several bugs by use of kero- 

 sene oil. Bugs do not eat, but insert their beaks, and sip the 

 juices of the plants. So we can not poison them by use of the 

 arsenites, etc. Neither do they care for pyrethrum. Here, then, 

 we may be glad of kerosene. To apply this, dilute with sour 

 milk one of oil to five of milk stir thoroughly, and apply 

 with fountain pump. This may also be used successfully in kill- 

 ing the striped bug Capsus quadarivitfatus, Harr which often 

 does great harm to potatoes, wheat, corn, and others of our farm 

 and garden plants. This beautiful little bug is yellow, with 

 four black bands, and is about three-eighths of an inch long. 



The tarnished plant bug Lygus lineolaris, Boauv. which r; 

 very commonly distributed through the country, is also indis- 

 criminate as a feeder. This is the bug that destroyed thousands 

 of dollars' worth of strawberries in Southern Illinois the past 

 season, sucking the juice and vitality from the unripe fruit. It 

 is probable that kerosene and milk will fix them. Care is re- 

 quisite that the mixture be not too strong, or the plants may be 

 killed. 



Professor Forbes has found kerosene an excellent specific 

 against the terrible chinch-bug of Illinois and the West. Aside 



