614 
Sucks juices, causing plants to wither and 
often carries disease from sick plants to 
others. 
Burn alt rubbish in spring if this was 
omitted in fall. Spray young bugs with 
kerosene emulsion diluted with 12 to 15 
parts of water. Collect old bugs by 
sweeping plants with cheese cloth or mus- 
lin net when insects are stupid in early 
morning or when it is cold. 
H. A. GOSSARD, 
Wooster, Ohio 
Spinach oF Beer Lear Maccor. See un- 
der Spinach, 
Western Army Worm 
Chorizagrotis agrestis Grote 
Family Noctuidae 
General Appearance 
The adult moth is about one inch long 
and dark brown with gray markings. The 
caterpillars or army worms attain a 
length of two inches and vary from pale 
green to dark brown. 
Life History 
The general life history is practically 
the same as that of the variegated cut 
worm (Peridroma margaritosa var. saucia 
Hubn.). 
Food Plants 
This is a rather serious vegetable pest, 
attacking beets, cabbage, horse-radish, 
radish, mustard, turnip, peas, tomatoes, 
potatoes, onions, celery, rhubarb, corn, 
grasses, clover, alfalfa and forest and 
fruit trees. 
Poisoned bait, composed of a pound of 
Paris green to 40 or 50 pounds of bran 
and sweetened either with cheap sugar 
or molasses with sufficient water added to 
make a stiff mash, placed in the infested 
areas, will kill countless numbers of the 
worms. EH. O. Essie 
Beneficial Insects 
The California State Insectary Propagat- 
ing and Distributing Bene- 
ficial Insects 
The California State Insectary is a de- 
partment of the state commission of hor- 
ticulture, equipped and maintained for the 
purpose of reducing the cost of produc- 
tion of horticultural and agricultural 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
products through the control of injurious 
insect pests. 
The primary object of this institution 
is to import, collect, propagate and dis- 
tribute beneficial insects that will prey 
upon insects destructive to our fruit, vine 
and grain products. Information is also 
disseminated as to the best artificial 
means of control, where the natura] 
methods are not available, both for insect 
pests and plant diseases. 
The state of California leads the hor- 
ticultural world in the science of con- 
trolling destructive insects by natural and 
artificial methods. 
The main purpose of this article is to 
give the reading public a general idea of 
the various methods employed by the Cal- 
ifornia State Insectary, in propagating, 
collecting, holding in cold storage and 
distributing the tons of live beneficial in- 
sects that are annually distributed free, 
upon application, express or postage paid, 
to resident growers of California. 
This great practical work and its com- 
mercial application had its inception in 
California. The history of its inaugura- 
tion is so well known and understood 
that, for the purpose of the present article, 
it may be passed with the brief statement 
that, early in the horticultural history of 
the state, the known means of artificial 
control or eradication proved inadequate 
to cope with the invasion of a very serious 
insect pest of citrus and other trees, 
known as the “cottony cushion scale” 
(Icerya purchasi) which reduced the 
citrus output from 8,000 cars to 600 in a 
Single year. 
The idea of searching the world for a 
beneficial insect that would prey upon 
and control this pest originated in Cali- 
fornia. The idea was put into practical 
operation by the introduction of a species 
of Coccinellidae (Ladybird family) from 
Australia, known as Novius (Vedalia) 
cardinalis, with the result that the then 
doomed citrus industry of California was 
saved and the same pest which is always 
present in limited numbers, was commer- 
cially and continually controlled all these 
years at no expense to the grower, except 
a two-cent stamp on the letter to the In- 
