Press enter after choosing selection

The Striped Cucumber Beetle

The Striped Cucumber Beetle image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
June
Year
1872
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

A. L., of Bowling Green, Ky , writes : " If you eau givo me a sure remedy for keeping tho striped cucumber beetle otf m'y melon vines, I bliull be very thankful," etc. There are numerous published remedies for this pest, but, so far as we knqw, thorc is only ono that it would bo sufe to consider sure, and thut is Paris green. Sprinkled upon the plants it will entirely protoct them, which is inoro than can be said of anything elso we have ever tried, and the testo ruado by us, ere wc obtained this secret, were by no mcans few. Paris green is a paint. We uso it dry, of course. It can be liad at almost any paint shop or drug store, at a triflmg expense, and before applyine it you must mix it with dry ashes, or slacked limo, or rlour, in the proportion of about ouo part Paris green to twelvo parts of the otlier article used. This is to weaken it - if üot bo mixed it will be too strong for the plants, and they will be injured. Dust the mixture on vory thin - ir the morning whilo the plants are damp with the dew is the best time, as that will cause it to stick. Paris green is a poison, henee one must be a little carcful how he handles it, and pSrtioularly careful not to inhalo it into the lungs. In cases where niuch is t& be applied, an oyster can, fixod upon a handle three ' or four feet long, and having a few srrfall holes punched through the bottom ' on the plan of 11 pepper-box top, makes a very safe and convenient arrangement1 with which to sift the mixture on tó the plants. The operator holds tho can from him by the haudle, keeps to windward of the rows, and is out of all danger. Plants do not seem to absorb any portion of this poison into the circulation as no traces of it have yet been found in fruits growing upon any thus treated. It is considered entirely safe, and is now being used as a remedy against various other insects. The blister bleetles, which sometimos make bad work in our Irish potatoe patches, readily succumb to it, and at the North, where the " Colorado potato bug " has of late grown ver; troublesome, it is regarded as the onl; eiFêctual remedy. The striped cucumber beetle, scientifically named Diabrotica vitatta, is too well known to farmers and gardeners to need any formal introduction frora us. It is a email black-and-yollow striped beetle, or " bug," as we sometimos say, scarcely onsfourth of an iuch in length, feeding on various garden plants, but most generally on vines, as cucumbers, squashes, meions and tho like. It comes early, and has eeveral broods in the course of the course of the year, all of which do us more or Ie8s harm, but tho brood coming earliest, whilo the plants aro young, is the one from which we eustain the greatest injury. When tho time for propogating a now g6Heration has arrived, tho stripad cucumber beetle deposits eggs, generally at the baso of tho plant, (sometimos on the fruit,) and in a few days these eggs hatch out; minste white worras with black héads, which at once bore into the stalk, (or into the fruit, if the eggs were deposited there.) Here they romain cutting and growing until they are about half an inch ia length (full grown,; and until in ïufiny cases, the vine has wilted and died ; they then come forth, dig into the ground, transform themselves into what entomologista term the pupa state, and rest inactivo about two weeks; they then rrhed their .skins, crawl out new cucumber bèetles, and fall to work upon tho leaves of tho plants. It is hard telling which is the most injurious in the long run, tho beetle or the borer, of which it is the par ent. But the Paris green will dustroy or drive away the beetle, and then, as you luust know, tho borer will not come. Mobile licyisler. Thó Otermantown Telegraph has the föilowing : " Every garilener knows that this is a lüost destructivo insect among uielon, cucumber and othcr young vines, somcttmes dumaging the erop seriously. Many remedies havo been suggested, soiue of Uu-ui, 110 doubt, good in theïr wuy, but troublesome. Kow we l.uve tried for Mveral years a remedy which hasproved, witli us, a complete success. Instond ofaimiiig to drive; tho inm;ct with soot, ashea, Wt; pet it, or lathor fuhiish it with food better than tbe vonng molón and cucumber plant?. We sovv Btound eaoh hill, at tho time of oach planting, a few radish ábed, and, cotning up about the same time, the tojis Bttpply pasture for the bugs, which thcy much pi-efer to the vinos. Lettuce will also anHwcr, but the radish is rather liked the best. While our viuea are untouched" by njnkiri this littlo prorision #oY it, the young radish topa aro completéis perforated. ' Should this fn.il - whicli is soldom the case, and has nevor bceii so with us - spriukle the vinca with a solution of whale-oil soap and water. No insoot but tho curculio can stand this. Whcre this preparation 3 not attainable, a weak solution of carbolic disinfectant eoap will answcr as well."

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus