58 THE POTATO 
potato bug, the larvee of which eat the leaves. This bug gives 
the farmers a great deal of trouble, because when the leaves are 
destroyed the plant is killed and there are no potatoes formed 
underground. 
The beetle lays its eggs upon the leaves. These soon hatch 
into ugly red larve, and begin to feed on the leaves. They grow 
very rapidly, and by midsummer have developed into striped 
beetles which lay the eggs. From these come a second brood of 
larvee, which pass the winter in the ground. 
When spring comes they crawl to the surface of the earth, find 
the young shoots of a potato plant, and lay their eggs upon them. 
And these hatch into life-eating larve ready to destroy the new 
potato crop. 
Drawing 
1. Make a drawing of a whole potato and show the dif- 
ference between stem end and eye end. ‘Put in 
several eyes and see that they are correctly placed. 
2. Make a drawing of a cross section of the potato. 
3. Make a drawing of a vertical section. 
