S86 The Cucurbits 



than bordeaux mixture, as the latter stunts the young plants. 

 It is always well to plant an excess of seed and to use fish 

 scrap fertilizer to make the plants grow rapidly. Tobacco 

 dust or air-slaked lime and land plaster are of value as 

 deterrents. 



Squash bug (Anasa tristis). — A dirty brownish black bug 

 % in. long, with a highly offensive odor. The adults come 

 out of hibernation and attack the plants as soon as they come 

 up. They puncture the stems and petiolqg, sometimes kill- 

 ing the plants outright. The brownish eggs are deposited 

 on the underside of the leaves and hatch in one or two weeks. 

 The young bugs are nearly white and covered with a mealy 

 substance. They puncture the leaves, causing them to vs^ilt 

 and turn brown. Control: The adult bugs are very resistant 

 to contact sprays. Practice clean farming and thus reduce 

 to a minimum hibernating shelter. After the crop is har- 

 vested, the vines should be raked up and burned. After the 

 ground has been seeded, but before the plants are up, many of 

 the over-wintered adults can be trapped under boards laid on 

 the ground. Then all adults noticed on the young plants 

 should be hand-picked, the eggs should be crushed or scraped 

 off with a knife, and the young nymphs may be killed by 

 spraying with " Black Leaf 40 " tobacco extract, 1 part in 400 

 parts of water in which enough soap has been dissolved to 

 give a good suds. 



Squash-vine borer (Melittia satyriniformis) . — A white 

 brown-headed caterpillar, 1 in. long when mature, that bores 

 In the stems of squash, pumpkin, cucumber, and melon. The 

 adult is a moth having an expanse of about one inch. The 

 front wings are nearly black and the hind wings are trans- 

 parent. The eggs are deposited on the stems of the vine. On 

 hatching the young borer burrows into the stem and then 

 eats out a tunnel through the pith, often causing the death 

 of the vine. Control: Practice a short rotation of crops. 

 Do not grow susceptible crops year after year in the same 

 field. Collect and destroy all vines after crop is har- 

 vested. Early squashes are sometimes planted as a trap crop 



