2 INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETABLES. 



yard wide, are mounded up about 6 to 8 inches above the surrounding 

 surface, the top is leveled, and the seeds are planted on these elevated 

 plats, which have an appearance very suggestive of graves. 



Although the climate is rather humid the normal rainfall, at 

 Honolulu, is so light that irrigation is necessary to produce a crop. 

 Practically all the gardens have an abundant supply of artesian 

 water, but, owing to the manner in which the beds are elevated, it 

 is impossible to run the water between the rows of plants, and as a 

 result they have to be watered by hand. This is accomplished by 

 dipping up the water in large watering cans and sprinkling it over 

 the beds. It would seem that this slow and laborious method of irri- 

 gation could be eliminated if the beds were prepared in a more up-to- 

 date manner. 



The so-called spinach is not the plant which is recognized by 

 that name in mainland markets, but is a species of Amaranthus. 

 The leaves and stems of the j 7 oung and tender plants, when properly 

 cooked, make fairly palatable " greens." 



FOOD PLANTS AND INJURY. 



The most conspicuous enemy of this class of vegetables is the 

 Hawaiian beet webworm (Hymenia fascialis Cram.). In the Ha- 

 waiian Islands the larvae of this species include among their food 

 plants table beets, sugar beets, stock beets (mangel-wurzels), several 

 species of Amaranthus, Euxolus, purslane (Portulaca oleracea), 

 cucumbers, and chenopodiaceous weeds. Among the wild food plants, 

 Amaranthus is the favorite. These weeds grow in abundance along 

 fences and in neglected spots, and it frequently happens that the 

 plants are so completely stripped of foliage that large patches of 

 them die. Cultivated Amaranthus is likewise severely damaged. 

 Beets are a close second in attractiveness, and it is not unusual to see 

 beds of this vegetable with nothing remaining of the foliage but 

 the petioles. When infestation is very severe the plants are oc- 

 casionally killed outright, and even when the larvae are less abun- 

 dant the infested beets are stunted in growth and injured in quality. 

 Sugar beets are attacked as readily as the table variety. During the 

 latter part of August, 1910, the author received some sugar beets 

 from the experimental plats on Lanai. from which practically all the 

 foliage had been stripped, and it was reported that all the beets in the 

 plats were in a similar condition. This webworm is the most serious 

 insect pest which menaces the production of sugar beets in Hawaii, 

 and unless it is controlled it is unlikely that this crop can be profitably 

 grown. Cucumbers are apparently only rarely attacked and the 

 occasional larva? which were found infesting this cucurbit were 

 doubtless feeding on it because more attractive food was not avail- 

 able. Portulaca is commonly attacked but apparently is not so 

 favored a food as Amaranthus or beets. 



