The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-04
The Melon Louise.

During the summer this insect feeds on
melons. cucumbers. cotton, mustard and
perhaps other plants. 1t is altogether
probable that the insect passes the winter
either In eggs laid late in the fall or the
female survives the winter. The eggs or
insects are located on some plant on which
they may feed in early spring. This may
be on the foliage of some plant that keeps
green during the winter, or on the roots
of some plant that loses its foliage in au-
tumn. Oh. the eggs may be. deposited on the
plants or, fruit late in the season. The
plants themselves may die or the fruit
may decay. as the melon, and yet the
eggs may survive. When warm weather
comes in the spring II the eggs survive
the winter they hatch ard preba bly, live
for time on some wild plant until they
obtain wings. If the winged form has
passed the winter ii feeds for short time
on some wild plant. IN. either case when
the melons have formed few leaves these
winged female forms fly from place to
place over the field, leaving. not eggs, but
live young on the plants they visit. By
careful observation 1t has been seen that
one female individual will produce FIVE
or six live young in twenty-four hours,
and that these young having inherited the
reproductive propensity, begin producing
young at a similar rate in less than a
weeks time. Hence II will be seen that a
single female louise thar has successfully
passed the winter can in a comparatively
short time establish several colonies in the
field. BY brief mathematical calculation
it will be seen that one individual may
become the common parent of a million or
more in a single season.
For this it will be seen that preventive
rather than curative measures should he
employed. Could the few that are trying
to pass the winter be found the 6estruc-
m ha q
thing to be done is 70 destroy the proba-
BILE abode. This can best be done by de-
stroying all Odd decayed or Immature fruit
by letting hogs eat ii If practicable If
not then 1t should, be hauled off a safe
distance from the melon field and dumped.
The old vines should all be ralSed together
and burned II possible, IL not, then hauled
away from the field. After the field hos
been cleared III the fall, as soon as posi-
BILE after the crop has been harvested, IL
should be well plowed, and il after that
any green thing tries to grow. 1t should
be killed by narrowing or digging, for 1t
may be that very few living plants on a
large fed may harbor the enemy we are
after. A second measure of precaution
would be to burn at some time during the
winter as much as possible of the weeds
and grass for several rods around the
proposed field. Since the louise is known
to feed on the cotton plant 1t would be best
to avoid as far as possible old cotton fields.
But what is the melon grower to do who
has not taken care of his field during the
winter? Careful watch should be kept for
the colonies that have started, and when
they are found, destroy the lice entirely,
even at the sacrifice of a few hills of
melons. The fight should begin In the fall
and be kept up until the crop is planted
in the spring, and longer If necessary.
G. ID.