COLORADO BEETLES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2068, 9 October 1880, Page 3

COLORADO BEETLES.

These insects have of late been matin; themselves unpleasantly conspicuous by their proceedings in Westchester County, New York, where they have appeared in a armin» numbers. The farmers an 1 garoerters have pressed all their households and all the additional help they can muster into service to make war upon these destruc tivo i- sects in the potato fields ; hut ii seems likely that m the end victory will rest with the Colorado beetles. The great specific is Paris green; but it requires such frequent application, and is, moreover, so dangerous to use where there are domestic animals, that many farmers hesitate to resort to it, and prefer deatrojing the bugs by means of boiling water. Boys and girls and many other assistants era paid throe cents a quart for picking bugs. One smart boy will pick from fifteen to twenty quarts of bugs a day. The pot do bug, is however, a cunning insect, or if. thinks it is. It knows instantly when the vino is assailed, and diope on its'baok as though it were dead. When the intruder has passed on it climbs up the stalk and begins to feed on the loaves again. The effect of Paris green is almost instantaneous. The bug drops, rolls on its back, gives a few spasmodic kicks, and is dead. Whether it suffers much under these circumstances is a matter of doubt. The fanners generally hope it does, but some of them are inclined to think that it does not.