18 



INJURIOUS INSECTS 



the plants upon the farm except the large plants for 

 market, hoeing up all the young seedlings that, as is well 

 known, start from the last year's seed every spring upon 

 the beds." Thus the mother-beetle is forced to lay her 

 eggs upon the large shoots from the old stools; and as 

 these are cut and sent to market every few days, there 

 are no eggs left to hatch out into larva? for the second 

 brood of beetles. 



At first sight we might suppose that it would be possi- 

 ble, by carrying out the above system to its utmost 

 extent, to extirpate the insect entirely. But unfortu- 

 nately this can not be done. Asparagus, according to 

 Dr. Eitch, has run wild to a considerable extent upon 

 Long Island, '^and slender spindling stalks of it may be 

 seen growing in all situations there, by the roadsides, in 

 the fields and in the woods. Thus the Asparagus Beetle 

 has such an abundance of food everywhere presented to 

 it, and the insect is already occupying such an extent of 

 territory, that there seems to be no mode by which it is 

 now possible for us to effect its extermination." 



To many persons, perhaps, such a crop as As23aragus 

 may seem of but very trifling importance in a pecuniary 

 point of view. But we have already seen upon how large 

 a scale it is cultivated on Long Island, in the State of 

 New York; and a writer in the American Journal of 

 Horticulture," who hails from New Jersey, remarks as 

 follows: We plant Asparagus in great fields of ten to 

 twenty acres. Well planted, it will cost a hundred dol- 

 lars to set an acre; but it will continue productive for 

 twenty years; and if properly cared for, each acre will 

 clear two hundred dollars annually. There are men all 

 around me who have made small fortunes out of this 

 single article." 



