e cut down and burned, and other shoots be allowed to
grow up as decoys. One of the best and least expensive remedies against
the larvae is fresh air-slacked 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 lime may be conveniently applied by means
of a whisk-broom or a Paris green sifter. Even dry road dust applied in
this manner will have a beneficial effect. The special merit of these
insecticides is that they can be used without the least danger upon
young shoots being cut for market or home use.

Paris green and other arsenites, applied dry in powder, mixed with flour
or plaster, or in solution, answer equally well, after cutting has
ceased, and possess the advantage of destroying beetles as well as
larvae. One pound of Paris green to a barrel of fine plaster makes a
sufficiently strong mixture. It may be necessary to make two of these
applications at intervals or as often as the larvae reappear on the
plants. Powdered hellebore mixed with flour, one part to ten, or in
solution of one ounce of hellebore to three gallons of water, is also
very effective against the young larvae. Pyrethrum or buhach may be used
in similar manner, and kerosene emulsion has been highly recommended by
some experimenters. In hot weather, when the soil is dry, the larvae may
be brushed or shaken from the plants so that they will drop to the
heated ground, where they die, being unable to regain the shelter of the
plants. Whichever methods for the destruction of this pest are adopted,
unless the work be done thoroughly and with concerted action by all the
growers in the section, the relief can not be permanent.

THE TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE

(_Crioceris 12-punctata_ Linn)

The presence of this insect in America was first detected in 1881, and
it is still much rarer and consequently less injurious than the
preceding species. In Europe, where it is apparently native, it is
common but not especially destructive. The chief source of damage from
this species is from the work of the hibernated beetles in early spring
upon the young and edible asparagus shoots. Later beetles as well as
larvae appear to feed exclusively upon the berries. The eggs are
deposited singly, and apparently by preference, upon old plants toward
the end of shoots, which, lower down, bear ripening berries, and they
are attached along their sides instead of at one end, as in t