31 



Injuries and Treatment. 



Injury to asparagus is caused both by the grub and the adult 

 beetle feeding upon the shoots intended for market, and also upon 

 the full-grown plants. 



For beds where cutting is done, a few shoots left here and there 

 to serve as traps will attract the beetles to them if the other shoots 

 are kept cut as fast as they grow to market size. The trap shoots 

 should be cut about once a week and destroyed, others being then 

 allowed to take their places. If this be continued for four or live 

 weeks the egg supply of the beetles which winter over will be 

 about exhausted, and if no young have found a chance to develop 

 on volunteer asparagus near, the danger of damage from the later 

 broods of the season will be greatly reduced. 



In the case of seed beds, dusting with fresh air-slaked lime 

 while the dew is on is quite effective, as the lime kills every grub it 

 touches. That it is only those grubs which are touched by the 

 lime which are killed, however, should be remembered by those 

 who use this method. Allowing chickens to run in the asparagus 

 beds is advantageous, as these feed freely upon the insects. Cut- 

 ting down and burning the seed stems two or three times a year is 

 also a good practice and is now considered not to be injurious to 

 the plant. Finally, several kinds of insects prey upon the aspar- 

 agus beetle and aid the grower to keep this pest in check. 



Tin-: Imported Cabbage Worm. 



(Pieris rapai Schr.) 



This insect like the asparagus beetle is a native of Europe and 

 made its appearance in this country near Quebec about 1859, since 

 which time it has spread over nearly the entire United States. 



Fio. 2. — Imported cabbage worm butterfly : male and female. 



The insect passes the winter as a brown chrysalis, attached to 

 some board, fence-rail or other object. In the spring the chrys- 

 alis bursts open, setting free the white butterfly so common around 

 cabbage fields in summer, and as soon as the cabbages are set out, 



