44 
The Colorado Experiment Station. 
It is quite often that the vines of winter squash or pumpkins 
wilt down quickly as mentioned above, when the crown and roots 
of the plants are apparently sound. In such cases the plant will 
nearly always be found to be attacked by a bacterial organism 
which causes the interior of the stem to change to a yellowish 
color, and usually there is considerable exudition of an amber-col¬ 
ored fluid from portions of the vine, and especially near the root. 
If insects are abundant on the squashes, they are liable to carry 
the disease organisms upon their mouth parts from vine to vine 
until the entire patch is destroyed. To prevent the spread of this 
disease, pull and burn all dying plants as soon as they are noticed 
and reduce the insects that are attacking the squashes to the 
smallest possible number. 
MELONS AND CANTALOUPES. 
The Melon Louse {Aphis gossypii). 
The little green melon louse wlrch attacks the foliage of 
melon, cantaloupe and cucumber vines, is perhaps the most destruc¬ 
tive pest that these plants have in Colorado. The melon aphis usu¬ 
ally attacks, at first, but very few plants scattered through the patch. 
Upon these plants the lice increase rapidly in numbers, some of 
them acquiring wings, and then the insect spreads rapidly over the 
field, and may become so numerous as to almost destroy the crop. 
Remedies .—It is sometimes the case that the lady beetles and 
other natural enemies of these l : ce are abundant enough to keep 
them in check, but it is not safe to depend upon the insect enemies 
to do this work, as a rule. Probably the best artificial remedies 
are either burning or burying the first infested vines of the year. In 
order to be successful in this work, the melon raiser must keep very 
close watch of his plants and as soon as any of them are found in¬ 
fested, the treatment should be made promptly. The burn¬ 
ing is done by throwing a small forkful of straw or hay upon the 
infested vines and burning it. The plants are buried by throwing 
a few shovels of dirt upon them, which, however, must be sufficient 
to prevent the escape of any of the lice. All of the infested leaves 
should be buried under, at least, one or two inches of earth, and 
then it is well to tramp down the dirt. The lice cannot burrow out. 
The ordinary insecticides for the destruction of other plant lice 
will kill the melon louse also, so far as they can be thoroughly ap¬ 
plied to them. These insect : cides are seldom effectual, however, 
because of the difficulty of making an application that will thor¬ 
oughly reach the l ; ce on the under side of the curled leaves. Fumi¬ 
gation of the pUnts under wash tubs may be carried on successfully, 
but I believe this is too expensive a method for practical purposes 
in the field. 
