Some Insects Insurious ro VEGETABLES 1347 
Control. In spring the hungry beetles eat the leaves and 
flowers of the young plants of cucumbers, melons and squashes, 
and cause severe injury, sometimes destroying the plants. 
The plants, at least in home gardens, may be protected by 
putting boxes, which have been made without tops or bottoms, 
around them. The lower edges of these bottomless boxes should 
be pressed into the earth so that the beetles cannot crawl under. 
The tops of the boxes may be covered with coarse thin muslin, 
at least until the second or third pairs of leaves appear on the 
plants. 
Another protective measure is to keep the leaves of the plants 
covered with fine sifted ashes or air-slaked lime. The beetles 
seem to be repelled by the dust. 
Probably the most effective protection against these beetles is 
afforded by spraying the plants thoroughly with arsenate of lead, 
214 pounds to 50 gallons of water, or in smaller quantities at 
the rate of 4 ounces to 5 gallons of water. Whatever is done 
must be done thoroughly and often. The new leaves as they 
appear should be covered with the repellant mixture. 
COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE 
Asparagus, introduced into the colonies with 
the early settlers from Europe, is said to have 
had no insect enemies for nearly two hundred 
years. Now, however, it is sometimes seri- 
ously injured by two beetles and a species of 
fly. 
The most serious pest is the common aspar- 
agus beetle (Crioceris asparagi). The beetle 
is scarcely one-fourth inch in length, is blue- F 
black in color, with a red thorax, and with Fic. 403 Common 
: . ASPARAGUS BEETLE 
lemen-yellow and dark-blue wing covers with a 
reddish border (Fig. 403). The adults vary considerably in 
general color, some being darker, while others are lighter. 
The beetles pass the winter under piles of rubbish, sticks or 
stones and appear in the early spring about as the aspara- 
gus is ready to cut for market. The adults deposit their rather 
large conspicuous dark-brown eggs on the stems of the aspar- 
