74 MELON CULTURE 



manifest by the curling up of the leaves into a cup- 

 shaped mass. This is caused by the irritation pro- 

 duced by the insertion of the tiny beaks and the 

 sucking of the juices from that side of the leaf. This 

 cup also forms a protection to the insects and makes 

 it very difficult to hit them with any form of spray 

 mixture. Then, too, as the vines grow so close to 

 the ground, and as the lice are on the underside of 

 the leaves, it is necessary to spray from the under- 

 side in order to reach them. This may be done in 

 a small way by using kerosene emulsion, with a bent 

 nozzle; but it would be practically useless to at- 

 tempt this in large fields. 



And so the commercial grower is really limited 

 to two methods of procedure: First, clean culture 

 of the entire field, so as to destroy its early and late 

 food plants, as well as to destroy its hibernating 

 quarters ; second, he should dig a hole and bury the 

 infested plant just as soon as the lice make their 

 appearance. Nature often does much towards 

 holding these insects in check through the parasitic 

 "•"species which prey upon them in great numbers. In 

 fact, if it were not for these natural parasites, the 

 lice would soon put the melon grower out of busi- 

 ness. 



Squash Bug (Anasa tristis, De G.). — In some sec- 

 tions of the country this is one of the worst pests 

 the melon grower has to contend with. The squash 

 is its favorite food plant, but it also attacks the 

 muskmelon, watermelon, and cucumber. It appears 

 quite early in the season, soon after the melon 

 plants are up, and multiplies quite rapidly. The 

 adult is one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, of 

 a grayish brown color, and belongs to the sucking 



