2 INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETABLES. 
yard wide, are mounded up about 6 to 8 inches above the surrounding 
surface, the top is leveled, and the seeds are planted on these elevated 
plats, which have an appearance very suggestive of graves. 
Although the climate is rather humid the normal rainfall, at 
Honolulu, is so light that irrigation is necessary to produce a crop. 
Practically all the gardens have an abundant supply of artesian 
water, but, owing to the manner in which the beds are elevated, it 
is impossible to run the water between the rows of plants, and as a 
result they have to be watered by hand. This is accomplished by 
dipping up the water in large watering cans and sprinkling it over 
the beds. It would seem that this slow and laborious method of irri- 
gation could be eliminated if the beds were prepared in a more up-to- 
date manner. 
The so-called spinach is not the plant which is recognized by 
that name in mainland markets, but is a species of Amaranthus. 
The leaves and stems of the young and tender plants, when properly 
cooked, make fairly palatable " greens." 
FOOD PLANTS AND INJURY. 
The most conspicuous enemy of this class of vegetables is the 
Hawaiian beet webworm (Hymenia faseialis Cram.). In the Ha- 
waiian Islands the larvae of this species include among their food 
plants table beets, sugar beets, stock beets ( mangel- wurzels), several 
species of Amaranthus, Euxolus, purslane (Portulaca oleracea), 
cucumbers, and chenopodiaceous weeds. Among the wild food plants, 
Amaranthus is the favorite. These weeds grow in abundance along 
fences and in neglected spots, and it frequently happens that the 
plants are so completely stripped of foliage that large patches of 
them die. Cultivated Amaranthus is likewise severely damaged. 
Beets are a close second in attractiveness, and it is not unusual to see 
beds of this vegetable with nothing remaining of the foliage but 
the petioles. When infestation is very severe the plants are oc- 
casionally killed outright, and even when the larvae are less abun- 
dant the infested beets are stunted in growth and injured in quality. 
Sugar beets are attacked as readily as the table variety. During the 
latter part of August, 1910, the author received some sugar beets 
from the experimental plats on Lanai, from which practically all the 
foliage had been stripped, and it was reported that all the beets in the 
plats were in a similar condition. This webworm is the most serious 
insect pest which menaces the production of sugar beets in Hawaii, 
and unless it is controlled it is unlikely that this crop can be profitably 
grown. Cucumbers are apparently only rarely attacked and the 
occasional larvae which were found infesting this cucurbit were 
doubtless feeding on it because more attractive food was not avail- 
able. Portulaca is commonly attacked but apparently is not so 
favored a food as Amaranthus or beets. 
