322 Gardening | 
shoots and mature plants. Various sorts of tiny “ flea 
beetles ”’ eat holes into the leaves of eggplants, squashes, 
‘cucumbers, melons, snap beans, and tomatoes. These 
insects are best destroyed by sprays of arsenate of lead. 
The blister beetles of the beet and Swiss chard are 
black or striped beetles about # inch in length. They 
often ‘‘come in droves,” and if unchecked, soon do 
much injury. It is not advisable to spray Swiss chard 
with poisons, but the insects may be caught by beating 
and shaking from the plants into a wide-mouthed pail 
containing water and a small amount of kerosene. 
THE SUCKING INSECTS 
The insects which are known as the “ true bugs ”’ have 
their mouth parts arranged in the form of a tube-like 
beak. Those'that live upon plants feed by inserting this 
beak into the plant and sucking out the juice. They 
are therefore not injured by poison on the surface of the 
leaves, but must be sprayed or dusted with something 
that will kill them by coming in contact with them. 
Kerosene emulsion and preparations containing nicotine 
are most generally used for this purpose. 
Aphids. The most common sucking insects in the 
garden are the plant lice or aphids. There are many 
kinds of aphids that attack plants. Some feed upon 
roots; others on the parts that grow in the air, mostly on 
tender young leaves, buds, or fruits. They are all 
rather small and feed wholly on plant juices. In the 
North they live over winter in the egg stage, but in 
the more southern states they are present in the adult 
stage throughout the winter as well as in summer. 
