doing injury to parsley, pea, endive, cotton, orchard and small fruits and roses. Its color is yellow, with the thorax tinged with orange, and the antennæ or feelers are ringed with a dusky color (fig. 15). It is distributed from Canada to Florida, and westward.

REMEDIES. The same as for the onion thrips.

The Red Spider (Tetranychus bimaculatus Haw.).-Few vegetables are free from the attacks of red spider (fig. 50r). These creatures are extremely minute, and are frequently not noticed until they become excessively numerous, as happens during summer droughts. They do considerable damage in vegetable gardens and to plants grown under glass.

α

REMEDIES.-Flowers of sulphur, mixed with water at the ration of one ounce to the gallon, and sprayed over the plants, is of great value in eradicating this pest. Fish-oil and other soap solutions are valuable, and the addition of sulphur increases their effectiveness, but are too strong for some delicate plants. Greenhouse plants are sprayed with water two or three times a week during the growing season, and care is exercised to wash off the spiders and not drench the beds.

Fig. 50x.-Red spider. a, Adult; b. palpus; c, claws. (After Banks, U. S. Dept. Agr.)

CHAPTER VI

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO ASPARAGUS

ASPARAGUS was introduced into America with the early settlers from Europe, and was cultivated here for two hundred years before being troubled with insects. Few edible plants down to the time of the Civil War have enjoyed such immunity from the ravages of insects. The principal insect enemies of asparagus are two leaf-beetles, both imported from the Old World, and limited for food supply to this plant.

The Common Asparagus Beetle (Crioceris asparagi Linn.), as its English name indicates, is the more abundant asparagus

Fig. 52.-Common asparagus beetle. a, Beetle; b, egg; c, newly-hatched larva; d. full-grown larva; e, pupa-all enlarged. (Author's illustration)

beetle and by far the most important foe of this plant. Its first appearance was noted in this country at Astoria, near New York City, in 1860, where it was introduced about 1856.

The injury inflicted by this insect is due to the work of both adults and larvæ upon the tender shoots, which they render unfit for market early in the season. Later they destroy by defoliation growing plants, and are particularly injurious to

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seedlings, the roots of which are weakened by having their tops devoured. Larvæ, as well as beetles, attack the tenderest portions of the plants, but the latter gnaw with seemingly equal relish the epidermis, or rind, of the stems.

The beetle, illustrated by figure 52, is a most beautiful creature, slender and graceful in form, blue-black in color, with red thorax, and lemon-yellow and dark-blue elytra or wing-covers, with reddish border. Its length is a trifle less than one-fourth of an inch.

From the scene of its first colonization, Queens County, N. Y., the insect migrated to other truck-growing regions, and has now extended its range northward through Connecticut and Massachusetts to the State line of New Hampshire. Southward it has traveled to southern Virginia. At the present time it is well established in the principal asparagus-growing sections of the northern Atlantic region, and occurs westward to Illinois and Michigan. In a very few years we may expect its spread to other portions of states in which it is now local, and later it will naturally move westward.

The insect passes the winter in the beetle state under convenient shelter, and in April or May, according to locality, or at the season for cutting asparagus, issues from its hibernating quarters and lays its eggs for the first brood. The eggs are deposited endwise upon the stem or foliage and in early spring on the developing stalks, in rows of from two to six or more.

In from three to eight days the eggs hatch, the young larvæ, "grubs" or "worms," presenting the appearance indicated in figure 52, c. They at once begin to feed, and are from ten days to a fortnight in attaining full growth. When full grown the larva appears as in figure 52, d. It is soft and fleshy, and in color is dark-gray or olive, which becomes lighter and yellowish with age. The mature larva enters the earth, and here, within a little rounded, dirt-covered cocoon which it forms, the pupa state is assumed. In from five to eight or more days the beetle

is produced, which issues from the ground in search of food and of a suitable place for the continuance of the species. The duration of the life cycle, according to Fitch, is about thirty days from the time the egg is laid until the insect attains maturity. In the District of Columbia the eggs, in the warmest part of midsummer, develop in three and the pupæ in five days. In the present range of the species two and perhaps three broods. are usually produced. The beetles enter into hibernation in September.

The asparagus beetle has efficient checks in predaceous insects, which prey upon its larvæ and assist in preventing its undue increase. Among these are the spotted ladybird (Megilla maculata DeG.), the spined soldier-bug (Podisus maculivintris Say) and the bordered soldier-bug (Stiretrus anchorago Fab., fig. 53). Wasps and small dragon flies also prey upon the larvæ. Immense numbers of beetles are sometimes killed in winter during severe cold spells following "open" weather.

REMEDIES.-The common asparagus beetle, under ordinary circumstances, may be held in restraint by the simplest means.

Chickens and ducks are efficient destroyers of them, and their services are often brought into requisition for this purpose.

A practice in high favor is to cut down all plants, including volunteer growth, in early spring to force the beetles to deposit their eggs upon new shoots, which are then cut every few days before the eggs hatch. Another measure of value consists in permitting a portion of the shoots to grow and serve as lures for the beetles. Here they are killed with insecticides, or the plants after they become covered with eggs are cut down and burned, and other shoots are allowed to grow up as decoys.