No. 4.] MODERN POTATO CULTURE. 51 



plant. One, t ht' Colorado potato beetle, or potato bug, as 

 it is commonly called, is easily and generally fought ; the 

 other works its mischief without attracting much attention. 



Flea lice He. 



Early in the summer, usually when the potatoes arc not 

 more than two or three inches high, a small beetle, not more 

 than a tenth of an inch long, appears and begins feeding 

 upon the young leaves. The beetles eat small cavities in the 

 tender foliage, often to such an extent that the plants are 

 ruined. After they have been feeding for a little time the 

 leaves will be found perforated with small circular holes, as 

 though made by tine shot. If the beetles do not destroy the 

 crop, the injured parts afford a foothold to the spores of the 

 early blight, and these two pests together may do what 

 neither would be able to do alone in destroying the crop. 



The beetles are very active, and their name, flea beetle, 

 is appropriate. They often escape notice, for when dis- 

 turbed they jump off the vines at once. Xo uniformly pro- 

 tective measures are known. Sprajung with the arsenites, 

 dusting young plants, while the foliage is wet, with tobacco 

 dust, lime, ashes or plaster, have been tried with more or 

 less of success. On the whole, the most successful remedy 

 tried by us is the Bordeaux mixture (formula 2, page 60). 

 This does not kill the beetle but makes them unhappy, and 

 to a great extent drives them from the vines. If applied 

 with anarsenite (formula 3 or 3a, page 61) it will be more 

 effective, and any early appearing potato bugs will be de- 

 stroyed at the same time. The early application of Bordeaux 

 mixture will also protect the already formed leaves from 

 the early blight. 



The Colorado Potato Beetle. 



This pest, originating in the Rocky Mountains, where it 

 lived upon weeds, found that it preferred the potato to its 

 original food, and spread in a few years' time over the whole 

 country. While it prefers leaves of potatoes it will eat the 

 stems or even the tubers if nothing better otfers. Its very 

 greediness suggests the remedy, poisons. No adequate sub- 



