The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-06-04
FARMER AND PLANTER.
ENEMIES OF THE POTATO.
What They Are and How to Deal with
Them.

The Worldwide tuDer furnishes al
immense amount of food, both for man
and beast, and hence its great values.
The failure of the crop IL some countries
means hollow stomachs and push to-
ward starvation; functional derange-
ment of the healthy play of the laws OF
life and health, expense and perhaps
premature death. No wonder that this
esculcnt holds prominent place in the
list of foods; no wonder that, as it is
both cheap and healthy food when UNI
disturbed by insect enemies, and hence
one great desideratum is practical
knowledge that will save the crop from
the devastation of its foes. Among
the numerous insects that delight
to feed on the roots and tops
of the Solomon Tuberosum we have
known the white grub to destroy many
Of the tubers, especially when the
ground is MANFRED with chip manure
and barnyard manure-the grubs and
the eggs of the beetle go with the ma
nure. These grubs are from the eggs
of the beetle known as the May bug,
and these same grubs are sometimes
very destructive to meadows and past
ures, eating off the roots OF the grass.
We have known whole crops nearly
ruined by them. The chief remedy is
to avoid putting manure on the ground
containing the grubs and eggs of the
beetle, and to encourage the red
winged blackbird and crow to follow
IL. hn
worm family, of which there are
several species, are troublesome, es-
pecially the one that does its work
in the night. This one climbs the stalk
and cuts it almost off, and the only way
of checking them is to follow them into
their holes and kill them. This family
are destructive in gardens, cutting off
young cabbages, tomatoes, sweet corn,
etc After doing the mischief they bore
into the ground and await the coming OF
another night. We detect their COZ
| cealment by the hole they make, and
usually they ar. easily found and de-
| stroyed, but to be efficient they must be
followed up daily for awhile. Another
enemy to the potato tops is the tomato
worm, familiar to all growers of toma-
! toes. They are sometimes quite de-
structive. They eat like pigs, and their
appetite is insa table. The moth is a
large, gray-winged insect and it begins
to fly and lay its eggs on the under side
Of the leaves in the evening twilight.
We once had small patch in the gar
den, and we hunted the patch over
daily until we had killed over four hun
dred worms and destroyed many eggs.
A more formidable enemy is found in
the family Canthesades. There are GER
tainlY three species that prey upon the
tops, and are very destructive, for they
come very suddenly in drove of thou
sands, and they make short work of
stripping the vines of their leaves.
These insects will blister the skin al
most as readily as the Spanish fly,
| tCanthain resicatonie1. In killing
these beetles, one somehow got on
to our back next to the skin, and
after awhile we felt smart
ing, and, upon examination, our
better half found well-filled blister
the size of mans thumb nail. All three
of the species are about the same length
-from half to three-quarters of an
inch long, with jaws powerful enough
| to speedily chew up potato leaf. The
worst one of the three, because the most
numerous, has it's elytra or mingioners,
striped with black and yellow in parable,
lines. They generally appear before the
I tops are in blossom, and after few
! hours of undisturbed work, will leave an
acre of potatoes as bare of leaves as a
young Shanghai chicken is of feathers.
Another one of this genera is black,
with a marginal stripe of white on the
wing covers, and the third one is ash
color all over. There is another species
as black as a CROW, found abundantly
on the golden rod, but we have never
seen but few on the potato. Most
of these droves can be driven
from the potato field with due
| perseverance, using small bundle Of
green things with the leaves on-get
them started, and they will all 60 the
same way. To kill them all is hope
less task, and yet, with two hours hard
work it killing, we have more than once
seen them take the hint and abandon
the field. The difficulty in using poi
sonous solutions is, you don't know when
they are coming, for even when they
are plenty, some fields escape. The
poison can not we'll be applied until toe
late to remedy the evil. We have
heard it said that ducks devour them
eagerly, and if this is true, a flock Of
ducks opportunity introduced might
prove an art of safety for the CROP But
we have not told the whole story
yet, for the driving away one
drove does not prevent others
from entering the field and so We
are in continual warfare, until
driving them out is the safest and best
way to save the crop. But worse than
these, because more general, is the Col
orado beetle. Dotypheroka Lueata.
1t is not the beetle itself that eats
the foliage, but their Larvae. These
beetles roost all around the field, wait
ing for the vines to appear, that they
may lay Gielr eggs on the under Slde o.
the leaves: their unerring instinct
teaches them that their expectan,
young will be amply provided for. Il
these eggs are not destroyed, they will
hatch out brood large enough to de-
YOUR the foliage of the whole hills
Having no wings they can not get
away, and don't want to. Picking the
beetles by hand when they begin to lay