The Coconino sun., 1917-08-17
HOW TO CONTROL THE
 COLORADO POTATO BEETLE

grower is the Colorado potato beetle. It is another one of the good things that Old Mexico has presented us, for it was first known in the wilds of the Rocky Mountain Highlands of that country, where it fed on common weeds of the potato plant family. It is safe to say that this pest may to- day be found almost everywhere the potato is grown in the United States or Southern Canada.
 For time its rapid increase and spread threatened the potato industry but its invasion brought about the use of the Arsenical poisons. The poison principally used was Paris Green which proved so effective that where farmers understood the proper use of poisons and apparatus to spray with there is little fear of it's attack.
 When full grown this beetle is dark yellow with black strips on the wing covers. It is close ot one half inch long. It lives either in the ground or in places where potatoes are stored. As soon as the young plants appear in the spring the females seek the potato fields and do considerable dam- age eating the young plants. They soon lay mass of yellow eggs on the under side of the leaves. Each female will lay as many as five hundred eggs in month. The eggs hatch in about a week and horde of redish colored larvae with black markings on them fairly devour the vines. When full grown they enter the ground and form smooth oval cells from which adult beetles will come again in about week to lay more eggs. In the higher attitudes there is probably but one generation year.
 Remedies
 For few short rows of potatoes in garden etc, the best method to use to get rid of the Colorado potato beet le is to hand pick the insects. A pail or pan held under the vines and the vines sharply slapped with a small paddle will cause the beetles to fall into the pan when they can be de- stroyed by burning. If hand picking is restorted to the idea should be to gather the first beetles that get on the young crop. If this is carefully done very few eggs will be layed and the resulting large number of beetles which hatch from the eggs will never appear. Where there are small patches of potatoes hand picking is laborous process and the use of one of the small types of sprayers is recom- mended such as the bucket pump con- pressed air sprayer etc., the bucket pump costs about six dollars properly equipped. Any sprayer of the small CT types should have three feet of hose, cut off, a three foot brass or iron extension rod with fog nozzle or perhaps side cyclone nozzle to be attached at end of the extension rod. All nozzles should be angle nozzles. Such equipment may be secured at the Arizona Seed Co.,, Phoenix, or from some one of the companies who manu- facture spray apparatus.
 For small areas the poison may be put on dry by mixing it with about fifty times its own weight of some substance like land plaster or air slacked lime. In this way it may be dusted on the plants while they are damp with dew or rain with sitter made like a sieve or one of the im- proved dust guns.
 One to four acres may be easily sprayed with a barrel pump or better still the Double action Frend pump, made by the Frend Manufacturing Co. Watsonville, Calf. A spray boom may be attached to these types of sprayers that will spray rows at a time. The pumping is done by man power. Almost all of the better manu- lecturers of spray apparatus make a good barrel sprayer. Such an outfit complete, with barrel pump ought to cost about $25.00, with double action Frend pump, about $40.00. It may be mounted on any kind of wagon A spray boom may be obtained from the Germaine Seed Co.,, Los Angeles Calf.
 For large acreages of potatoes or beans a large sprayer of the traction type is recommended. The pump is geared to the wheels, and the team is pulling the sprayer furnish enough power to give good pressure for the spray. Such a sprayer as the low nozzle traction sprayer made by the Iron Age people Bateman Mfg. Co.,, of Greenlock, New Jersey, is recom- mended.
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