244 
Hop Cultivation. 
as it cannot bear moisture. Bines should be cleared away at 
once from infested land and burnt, and the ground well limed 
and dug early, so as to cover up the dead leaves soon. The land 
should be kept free from weeds, as the spiders hibernate upon 
them. Infested plants should be washed with carbolic acid and 
water. 
Hop Flea. 
This insect, Haltica concinna , allied to the turnip flea-beetle, 
or turnip fly, Haltica nemorum, very often seriously attacks 
hop bines just after they have sent forth shoots, and completely 
stays their gi’owth. Sometimes it follows the bine throughout 
the season, and finally gets into the cones and much injures 
them. To prevent their attacks, all old bines should be care- 
fully removed, as the fleas winter in them. The ground should 
be well pulverised, and soot and lime mixed and put on where 
the plants are attacked. 
The insects described above are those most troublesome to hop 
planters. There are others, but they need not be mentioned here, 
except a tiny fly, or rather its maggots, which do much mischief 
just when the cones are ripening, by mining their strigs, or stems, 
entailing premature and rapid decay. It is not known exactly 
to what species this fly belongs, and it is feared from its habits 
that there is no remedy against it. As it evidently hibernates in 
the gi'ound in the vicinity of the hop hills, caustic applications 
might be of some use, but the larvae and pupae are most minute. 
Beneficial Insects. 
Among the insects that infest cultivated crops some are 
found to be most useful in reducing the numbers of those that 
are especially injurious. Unfortunately, it frequently happens 
that such valuable friends are not distinguished from foes, and 
either no attempts are made to encourage their increase, or they 
are recklessly confounded and destroyed with their bad com- 
panions. In the case of the hop plant, there are several kinds 
of insects peculiarly beneficial. Chief among these are some 
species of the Coccinellidce, 1 whose dusky, six-legged larvae, 
termed “ niggers ” in the hop districts, devour aphides in all 
stages with the greatest voracity. Foremost among these 
“ ladybirds ” is the species distinguished as Coccinella septempunc- 
tata, which is red, with seven black spots. Its larva is half an 
1 Professor Forbes of Illinois, U.S., found that some species of the Cocci- 
ncllidcc feed upon the spores of certain fungi, 
