OF THE FAEM AI>fD GAEDEiiif. 



1^ 



tions, had all been tried and found ineffectual as reme- 

 dies; domestic fowls, wliicli, as Dr. Fitcli ascertained, fed 

 greedily upon the beetles, could scarcely be used in suflS.- 

 cient numbers to clear fields of ten and twenty acres in 

 extent; and as to haud-i3icking twenty-acre fields, espe- 

 cially where the insect is so small, that would be too dis- 

 couraging an idea to be entertained for a moment. 



But in the year 1863, as we learn from Isaac Hicks, of 

 Long Island, a deliverer appeared in the form of a small 

 shining black parasitic fly, probably belonging either to 

 the Clialcis or to the Prodotrupes Family. Whether this 

 Fly lays its eggs in the eggs of the Asparagus Beetles, or 

 in the larva of that insect, does not seem at present to 

 be clearly ascertained; but if the accounts we have re- 

 ceived of it be correct, it must do either one or the other. 

 In the former case, the larva that hatches out from the 

 parasitic egg will consume the egg of the Asj^aragus 

 Beetle and entirely j)revent it from hatching; in the lat- 

 ter case it will destroy the larva before it has time to pass 

 into the perfect state. The result, in either event, will 

 be equally destructive to the bug and beneficial to the 

 gardener. Thus we are told, ^^although the Asparagus 

 Beetle has not entirely ceased to trouble them upon Long 

 Island since 1863, it yet has never since that year been 

 of any very material damage there. Upon a few farms it 

 still strips the plants in the latter part of summer, but 

 not to much extent or so as to entail any very serious 

 loss." 



But the diminution in the numbers of the Asparagus 

 Beetle is probably due in part to artificial, as well as nat- 

 ural causes. The Asparagus growers upon Long Island 

 have introduced a method of fighting the insect, which 

 is founded upon correct principles, and seems to be fol- 

 lowed by very gratifying results. Early in the spring, 

 when the Beetle has made its appearance and is ready to 

 lay its eggs, ^^they destroy," as we are informed, '^all 



