One of the best remedies against the larvæ is fresh, air-slaked lime dusted on the plants in the early morning while the dew is on. It quickly destroys all the grubs with which it comes in contact. The arsenicals, applied dry in powder mixed with lime, answer well, and possess the advantage of destroying beetles as well as grubs, and are of value upon plants that are not being cut for food. To produce satisfactory results the lime or arsenite must be applied at frequent intervals, or as often as the larvæ reappear on the beds. Arsenate of lead is an excellent remedy. A simple method of killing the larvæ in hot weather is to brush them from the plants so that they will drop to the heated earth, where they die before being able to return. The Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle (Crioceris 12-punctata Linn.).—The chief source of damage from this species is from the work of the hibernated beetles in early spring on young and edible asparagus shoots. Later the beetles as well as larvæ appear to feed exclusively on the berries. The eggs are deposited singly, and apparently by preference, on old plants toward the ends of shoots, which, lower down, bear ripening berries, and they are attached along their sides instead of at one end, as with the common species. Soon after the larva hatches from the egg it finds its way to an asparagus berry, enters it, and feeds upon the pulp. In due time it leaves this berry for another one, and when full growth is attained it deserts its last habitation and enters the earth, where it transforms to pupa and afterwards to the beetle. The life cycle does not differ materially from that of the common species, and there are probably as many generations developed. This species is at present distributed throughout nearly the same territory of the North as the preceding. The beetle rivals the common asparagus species in beauty, but may be distinguished by its much broader wing-covers and color. It is orange red, and each wing-cover is marked with six black dots, and the knees and a portion of the under surface of the thorax are also marked with black (fig. 54, a). The beetle as it occurs on plants when in fruit very closely resembles, at a little distance, a ripe asparagus berry. The full-grown larva is shown at figure 54, b. It measures, Fig 54-Twelve-spotted asparagus beetle. a. Beetle; b, larva: c, second abdominal segment of larva; d same of common asparagus beetle. a, b, Enlarged; c, d more enlarged (Chittenden. U S Dept. Agr.) when extended, three-tenths of an inch, being of about the same proportions as the larva of the common species, but is readily separable by its ochraceous orange color. REMEDIES are those indicated for the common asparagus beetle, with the exception of caustic lime and other measures that are directed solely against that species, but the habit of the larva of living within the berry places it for that period beyond the reach of insecticides. The Asparagus Miner (Agromyza simplex Loew.).-Asparagus stalks are sometimes considerably injured by a maggot (fig. 55x, a) which mines under the skin near or just beneath the base. The appearance of the affected stalk (f) is characteristic. The parent insect is a small black fly. REMEDIAL SUGGESTIONS.-Permit a few volunteer asparagus plants to grow as traps to lure the female fly to deposit her eggs. Afterward, in late June or early July, pull the trap Fig. 55.-Crioceris 12punctata. Egg, natural size, on asparagus, right; enlarged at left. (Chittenden, U. S. Dept. Agr.) Fig. 55x.-Asparagus miner. a, Larva; b, c, spiracles; d, e, puparium, f. section of asparagus stalk, showing injury and puparia. a-e, Much enlarged; f. slightly reduced. (Author's illustration, U. S. Dept. Agr.) plants and promptly burn them with their contained insects (in the flaxseed stage, fig. 55x, d, e). If this is carefully done over a considerable area, there will be little necessity for other methods, as few insects will be left for another season; unless, indeed, this insect has an alternate food plant. Cooperation and thoroughness are essentials for success. This method will operate also against the rust which is often present in fields infested by the miner. CHAPTER VII INSECTS INJURIOUS TO BEANS AND PEAS EDIBLE legumes are subject to injury by certain weevils, which deposit their eggs upon or within the pods on the growing plants and develop within the seed. The specific enemy of the pea is the pea weevil, and of the bean, the common bean weevil, both of sufficiently wide distribution and abundance to hold high rank among injurious insects. The inroads of these weevils in seeds cause great waste, and particularly is this true of seed kept in store for any considerable time. In former times popular opinion held that the germination of leguminous food seed was not impaired by the action of the larval beetle in its interior, but this belief is erroneous, as will be shown in the discussion of the nature of the damage by the pea weevil. Although it is not probable that any serious trouble follows the consumption by human beings of the immature weevils in green peas or beans, the use for food of badly infested dry seed filled with the dead bodies and excrement of the beetles would naturally be attended with unpleasant consequences. Growing pods in the fields are invaded by the bollworm and pea moth, and the foliage is preyed upon by numerous insects. Of foliage feeders are the bean leaf-beetle, bean ladybird, blister beetles, cutworms, and other caterpillars. Several forms of plant-bugs, leafhoppers, and aphides also exhaust the plants by sapping their juices. The Pea Weevil (Bruchus pisorum Linn.).-Seed peas are often found with a single round hole in them, due to the attack of the pea weevil or "pea bug," the largest of the pea and bean feeding weevils found in this country, measuring about a fifth of an inch in length. Its ground color is black, but it is thickly covered with brown pubescence, variegated with black and white markings arranged as illustrated in figure 57, a. In 1748 the celebrated Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm gave an account of this weevil, stating that the culture of the pea had been abandoned in Fig. 56.-A Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southern New York on account of it. buggy pea There are reasons for believing that this species came originally, with so many other injurious insects which live upon cultivated seeds, from the Orient, and it has now become distributed over nearly the entire globe, wherever peas are cultivated. It does comparatively little damage in the colder parts of Canada; hence, seed peas for planting in the United States are largely imported from Canada or are bought from seed dealers who obtain them from our more northern states. Fig. 57.-Pea weevil. a, Adult beetle; b, larva; c. pupa. All greatly enlarged Nature of injury.-Every pea in a pod is sometimes infested with this weevil; and although nearly every one is familiar with "buggy" peas, it is not generally known that in eating green. peas we often eat also a "worm" with nearly every pea. The only external evidence of infestation in a green pea is a minute |