REMEDIES AGAINST THE BEETLE. 93 



caught and killed, by actual counting, over eighteen thousand 

 (18,802) 'hard-shells,' without reckoning the eggs and young 

 ones, on less than a quarter of an acre of potatoes, so that not 

 a vine has lost its leaves. The bugs have stripped the neigh- 

 boring patches, and now come swarming on mine. My neigh- 

 bors Paris-greened, scalded, mashed and burned bus's till the 

 vines had blossomed, then let them live, grow fat and migrate. 

 Would it be feasible to fine the negligent, bug-catching farm- 

 ers next year, and offer medals to the diligent?" 



While hand-picking should be practised, and, perhaps, state 

 bounties paid for the eggs, grubs and beetles, prizes might be 

 offered by agricultural societies for the largest - collections. 

 Cooperation among farmers and others should also be urged, 

 even if legislation should have to be resorted to. President 

 P. A. Chadbourne of Williams College advocates higher 

 culture. "Since," he has remarked, "it costs as much to 

 protect an acre of potatoes, yielding twenty bushels, as one 

 yielding oue hundred bushels, less land should be planted and 

 more highly cultivated, as, on soil properly tilled, it would, 

 perhaps, not cost more than five cents a bushel to protect the 

 potatoes." The aid of fowl should also be invoked, as chick- 

 ens freely feed on the grubs. In the Western States, the use 

 of Paris green is advocated. This is a preparation of arsenic, 

 and is a deadly poison. If used at all, it should be handled 

 with extreme caution, and only by careful persons, and in 

 gardens and farms where no children are about. One part 

 of Paris green may be mixed with about twenty of cheap 

 flour, and dusted over the vines early in the morning, while 

 the dew is on the leaves. The simplest way is to sift the 

 flour from a fine muslin bag attached to a pole, or from a 

 dredging-box. Various machines have been devised for use 

 on large farms, and liquid preparations and patent sprinklers 

 manufactured for the purpose. Those who are not inclined 

 to use Paris green may use carbolate of lime, made by mixing 

 in the proportion of half an ounce of crude carbolic acid with 

 a pound of lime, forming a powder which can be dusted on 

 the leaves. Others have used air-slacked lime with success. 

 Hellebore is ineffectual. 



The following suggestions by Prof. H. H. McAfee of Iowa 

 Agricultural College are valuable : " We know that the Dory- 



