6 
THE COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION. 
soils are light and gravelly, with good under drainage, the irrigations must 
be frequent, and there is little danger of over-watering. 
HARVESTING. 
The harvesting of cabbage is a very simple operation, as the markets 
reached are not exacting. 
The wagon is driven into the field, the heads cut with a knife, so as 
to leave just enough of the green leaves to cover the white tissue of the 
head, then thrown onto the wagon. Not all the heads will be ready for 
market at the same time, so the fields have to be gone over two or three 
times before all the crop is taken off. 
If the crop is to be shipped, the cabbages are hauled direct to the 
cars. After being weighed the cabbages are either crated, sacked, or some¬ 
times loaded onto the cars loose.-* 
INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES 
'Comparatively few insects and diseases have so far troubled the cab¬ 
bage in this State. 
FLEA BEETLE. 
One of the most serious insect pests up to the present time is the 
little black flea beetle (Epitrix cucumeris). These insects feed on the stems 
and cotyledons of the plants just as the seedlings break through the ground. 
If the insects are plentiful they sometimes destroy all the plants. Growers 
frequently fail to locate the trouble because of the small size of the insects 
and their habit of jumping away from the plants when disturbed. This 
pest is particularly troublesome if the soil forms a crust so that the insects 
can find protection under the crust as the seedling comes up. 
Several remedies, such as ashes, ground tobacco stems, lime and in¬ 
sect powder have been u^ed with varying degrees of success. If the insects 
are numerous, the only method of preventing the trouble is to grow the 
plants in coldframes where the insects can be shut out till the plants are 
large and tough enough to resist the attacks. 
CABBAGE APHIS. 
This aphis, commonly called the cabbage louse, occasionally causes 
serious loss. The attacks usually occur after the plants are partly grown. 
The lice suck the juices from the leaves and cause the leaves to curl. After 
this curling occurs it is difficult to get at the insects to kill them. The mul¬ 
tiplication of these insects is so rapid that the infestation soon spreads and 
becomes a serious menace to the crop if not checked. 
REMEDIED 
Ordinarily this pest is held in control by parasites. When the para¬ 
sites do not prevent the multiplication of the lice they can be held down by 
spraying the infested plants with some contact poison as tobacco decoction 
or kerosene emulsion. 
CABBAGE WORM. 
The common green cabbage worms that eat the leaves of the cabbage 
and cauliflower are the larvae of the small yellow, white or spotted butter¬ 
flies that may be seen flying over the plants during the growing season. 
The larvae of these butterflies are so nearly alike in appearance and habits 
that they are hard to distinguish and may all be treated in the same way. 
Little or no attention is paid to them in the larger fields, as they sel¬ 
dom become numerous enough there to cause serious damage. The only 
effectual remedy is to dust on some form of arsenical poison, as Paris green, 
before the plants are too much matured. There is comparatively little 
danger in using these remedies on cabbage, as the head is formed from the 
center, so that what little poison adheres to the plant will be on the old 
outside leaves rather than in the edible portion of the head. 
CUT WORMS. 
These insects, too, are the larvae of several different species of moths. 
Most of these lay the eggs on plants in August or September. The larvae 
hatch and become partly grown during the fall, then hibernate in the soil 
till spring, when they are ready to eat the young plants when set. The 
late crop lis not apt to be troubled with these insects, for at the time the 
plants are set the larvae have become developed, stopped eating, and have 
gone into the pupal stage. 
Probably the best remedy is shallow, late fall plowing. 
This exposes 
