306 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



Millipeds. These are "thousand legged worms" which curl up 

 when disturbed into black balls. There are many sizes of them: 

 the small ones, which are hardly larger than shot when curled up, 

 do most harm because most abundant. Some students of them hold 

 strongly that they only affect decaying vegetation, such as potatoes 

 partly decayed, lower leaves of lettuce, etc., but Mr. Essig has 

 found them in a solid lettuce head, so their record is not clear. They 

 may be poisoned by powdering sliced potatoes, lettuce leaves, etc., 

 with Paris green and placing them on the ground, under pieces of 

 board or they may be trapped under pieces of board or flat stones 

 placed for that purpose and then killed, by hand or foot, as you may 

 prefer. 



Diabroticas. These are often called striped or spotted "green 

 lady birds," but no true lady bird is green nor does she do the bad 

 work of the diabroticas. Their specialty is the squash, melon and 

 cucumber, etc., but they do not hesitate at beans, corn and many 

 other plants. They can be poisoned with lead arsenate as already 

 prescribed for biting insects when they are working on foliage 

 which is not designed to eat, but they have a way of taking many 

 things which it is not safe to poison. They can be discouraged by 

 dusting the plants with slaked lime perfumed with coal oil by 

 stirring in enough for strong perfume without making the lime too 

 wet for dusting. Other powdery insecticides, like carbolated lime, 

 tobacco dust, etc., also accomplish this purpose. They can some- 

 times be driven away by smoke from fires on the windward side. 

 They can be shaken early in the morning from tall plants onto a 

 catching sheet. We know of no easy way with them. 



Flea Beetles and Darkling Beetles. These two small pests are 

 not closely related but we group them on the basis of their chief 

 work which is to attack young seedlings or transplants and knock 

 them out before they have a fair show in the world. The flea 

 beetle is not much larger than a flea and is usually first seen as a 

 flea is apt to be when it is on the jump. Its function is to corrugate 

 the leaf surface and perforate the leaf and cause its quick collapse. 

 The "darkling" beetle is a slim, black pest about a quarter of an 

 inch in length which attacks the plants just at or below the ground 

 surface. Its specialty in gardening is tomato plants and it is largely 

 averted by wrapping the plant in a piece of newspaper when setting 

 out, as described on page 273. W. S. Booth, of Mountain View, 

 protected his transplants of tomatoes with notable success against 

 both flea and darkling beetles in this way : 



I mixed neutral arsenate of lead with water at the rate of one pound to 

 thirty gallons of water. I recommend mixing about ten gallons at a time to 

 keep the solution clean. This amount would be enough for about 3,000 plants. 

 Frequent stirring is necessary, as lead arsenate does not dissolve much better 

 than fine sand. Taking thirty to fifty plants in a bunch, I dipped the tops 

 clear to the roots in the solution just before taking them to the field. Fol- 

 lowing this treatment, I did not lose one-half of one per cent of my plants 



