62 A HOME VEGETABLE-GARDEN 



rant worms over a pan into which has been poured 

 a little kerosene oil. Hand-picking or pinching 

 is the only way to make a certain end of the 

 beetles. Of course, the flea-beetle is the excep- 

 tion. No one ever could catch garden fleas. This 

 method followed with asparagus beetles disposed 

 of both species almost entirely in a few years. 

 There should be no reason to expect further 

 trouble with them, if there is no wild asparagus 

 growing near, and if the neighbors' gardens do 

 not harbor the pests. Hand-picking or pinching 

 is almost certain to dispose of cucumber beetles 

 and squash bugs just as permanently. These 

 squash bugs are well-nigh invulnerable against 

 any other means of extermination. Driven from 

 the vines, they hide away and bide their time; 

 the cucumber beetles feed elsewhere and seem to 

 increase astonishingly. Cucumber beetles will 

 thrive on corn and beans. Driven on, they will 

 live and apparently flourish on grass and weeds 

 and wait their opportunity. When the winter 

 squashes are beginning to ripen, before the shell 

 hardens, these beetles will swarm over them and 

 gnaw the shells until they are actually honey- 

 combed and the squashes are ruined. Better pinch 

 them, if you can, and be done with them. If the 

 suggestion is unpleasant, wear gloves. The first 

 unpleasantness will be forgotten when big, per- 

 fect, hard-shelled squashes are harvested. This 

 method will not prove so troublesome as might 



