208 THE GRAPE CULTUBIST. 



been able to annihilate them, their numbers have not 

 increased. 



If a whole neighborhood would band together, each 

 destroying all to be found upon his own place, there 

 would be a prospect of soon exterminating this most 

 destructive enemy of the grape. There is no other way 

 of destroying them than to attack the insect itself, 

 because the female deposits its eggs in the ground, where 

 they cannot be reached by any ordinary means. 



To collect the beetles from the flowers of the grape 

 is often rather difficult, and the better way is to employ 

 decoy plants, and entice them away from the vines. For 

 this purpose I have made use of several species of the 

 Spircea, but the best two for this purpose are the sorbus- 

 leaved (S. sorbifolia) and the Goat's Beard (S. Aruncus). 

 Both of these species bloom in spring with the grapes, 

 and continue in flower for several weeks. The first is a 

 vigorous-growing, hardy shrub from Siberia, producing 

 numerous long upright spikes of white flowers, which 

 are special favorites of the rose beetle, and if around 

 they are sure to be found on this plant, feeding upon its 

 flowers, from which they can be readily shaken into any 

 vessel used in collecting such pests. 



The Groat's Beard spiraea is a hardy, indigenous her- 

 baceous plant, forming large clumps, which may be 

 divided for the purpose of propagation. The flower 

 stems grow three to five feet high, and the flowers are of 

 a tawny white color and produced in many slender 

 spikes, disposed in a long compound panicle. When the 

 rose beetles gather on these flowers we have only to bend 

 over the spikes and shake the pests into the collecting 

 pan. These plants are abundant and cheap, and I have 

 used them as decoys for the rose beetles for many years 

 with excellent results. 



Blue Flea Beetle (Graptodera chalybea). This 

 is a very small jumping beetle, usually of a steel blue or 



