Insects Affecting Sweet Potatoes 139 



By combining this solution with bordeaux mixture at 

 the rate of 4-4-50, it will also serve as a repellant 

 and probably will be more effective than the plain 

 arsenical dip. All plants should be allowed to dry 

 partially before setting out. Dipping the plants is 

 preferable to spraying as it saves much time and they 

 can be more thoroughly and evenly covered by this 

 method, and it is also less expensive. Late planted 

 sweet potatoes are less seriously injured than early set 

 ones. Sturdy plants will withstand the attack and 

 recover from the injury much better than weak plants. 



TOETOISE BEETLES 



One of the commonest pests of sweet potatoes is the 

 tortoise beetle. There are several species belonging to 

 the Chrysomelidse, which are commonly known as gold- 

 bugs or leaf -eaters. They attack the leaves of the plants 

 in both the larval and adult stages. 



The tortoise beetles hibernate over winter in rubbish 

 and trash of any kind that affords them protection from 

 the cold. -In the early spring they feed on the morn- 

 ing-glory, which is probably their original host-plant. 

 As soon as the plants are set in the fifeld, the beetles 

 begin to eat large round holes in the leaves and so com- 

 pletely riddle them that many plants have to be re-set. 

 Rarely are new shoots seriously eaten or the eggs de- 

 posited on them. The larvae hatch during the first 

 half of June in Maryland; probably earlier in the 

 South, and somewhat later in the northern and north- 

 central states. The larvae are very ugly and eacb is 

 provided with a tail-like fork about as long as the body. 

 Upon this fork is heaped the excrement and cast skins 

 of the larva, and they are often oyerlooked or -taken 



