BUREAU OF EXTOMOLOGY AXD PLANT QUARANTINE 43 
as 80 percent of the pods on heavy, poorly drained land have been 
damaged. In experiments at Holland, Va., in cooperation with the 
Virginia Tidewater Field Station, significant control of this pest was 
obtained with organic insecticides broadcast by hand over the soil of 
small plots and raked into the upper 1 to 2 inches. Benzene hexa- 
chloride was effective at 1 pound of the gamma isomer, parathion at 
5 pounds, toxaphene at 40 pounds, and DDT at 67 pounds per acre. 
Applications made early in June were more effective than those 
made a month later. 
Foliage applications of benzene hexa chloride, chlordane, toxaphene, 
and parathion, in either dusts or emulsion's, also gave good control of 
this rootworm in small-plot tests at Holland, Va., and Beltsville, Md. 
Despite these promising results on small areas, none of the insecti- 
cides or methods of application are recommended for use by growers 
until more is known about methods and time of application, the effect 
on plant growth in various types of soil, and the possibility of unde- 
sirable residual effects on peanuts or on crops grown in rotation with 
peanuts. 
WHITE-FRINGED BEETLES 
Soil and Foliage Treatments with DDT Subdue Beetles 
Soil and foliage treatments with DDT have continued to be highly 
successful in combating and preventing the spread of white-fringed 
beetles. Few new areas of infestation have been uncovered in the past 
year, the most important being in Memphis, Term. Although the 
beetles are now known to occur in eight southern States on approxi- 
mately 220,000 acres of land, only a part of this acreage is heavily in- 
fested and serious crop damage is encountered only occasionally. The 
development of new insecticide formulations and new procedures and 
equipment for applying them has contributed to the effectiveness of 
this control program, and has also markedly lowered the cost of opera- 
tions. Large-scale application of DDT by airplane has been an 
important factor. 
Nurseries in or near the infested areas have quickly and widely 
adopted the authorized use of soil applications of DDT at the rate of 
50 pounds per acre. This procedure, when accompanied by a series 
of foliage spray applications at 0.5 to 1 pound per acre in the environs 
during the period of beetle emergence, promises after the second sea- 
son to assure against beetle dissemination in stock from treated nurs- 
eries. There has been no evidence of injury to the plants from this 
heavy soil treatment. 
Soil treatments with DDT at 10 pounds per acre are being applied 
with State cooperation to farm land having high beetle populations. 
Where soil treatment is impractical or there is special clanger of spread, 
several foliage applications of DDT through the adult beetle season 
are made. 
