TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



Lema trilineata, the peculiar habit of covering themselves 

 with their own excrement. 



The past season, I noticed, for the first time, a number 

 of the perfect insects of Chelymorplia cassidea feeding up- 

 on the sweet-potato. It is said to feed upon the milk- 

 iweed, and, I believe, has been found on the wild convol- 

 vulus, or morning glory. It is a yellow, oblong-oval, 

 beetle, somewhat similar to the tortoise-beetle in form, 

 about three-eighths of an inch long, with a pair of black 

 dots on each side of the thorax, and six black spots on 

 each wing-cover. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE TOMATO (Lycopersicum esculentum). 



Tomate, French ; Liebes-Apfel, German ; Appeltjes de* liefde, Dutch ; 

 Porno d'oro, Italian ; Tomates, Spanish. 



The order Solanacece or Nightshade family contains 

 over twelve hundred species, among which are three of our 

 most wholesome and important vegetables the Irish 

 potato, the tomato, and the egg-plant. It also includes 

 the red pepper and the narcotics, bittersweet, belladonna, 

 Jamestown or ' Jimson weed," the tobacco and others. 



The Tomato was first introduced into Europe from 

 South America in 1596; but for many years it was ex- 

 clusively cultivated as an ornament to the flower-garden. 

 It came very gradually into use in the preparation 

 of sauces and in soups, having attained popularity only 

 within the last forty years. In the north of the European 

 continent and in England it is not yet popularized; while 

 in France and Italy, particularly near Rome and Naples, 



