THE POTATO BUG IN GERMANY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 919, 14 May 1878, Page 2

THE POTATO BUG IN GERMANY.

The Colorado beetle is still an obect of apprehension m Germany. A committee has been for some time sitting at the Ministry of Agriculture m Berlin, to discuss the measures to be taken to prevent the insect from devastating the potato fields. The cost of providing for closely, watching all the potato grounds m the empire during the whole summer' would, it was found, be very graafr, amounting to several million marks; and, therefore, it has been determined to confine official supervision to the districts m which the beetle appeared last year, the police authorities being charged with the task o' seeing the work properly carried oat. Placards are also to be posted up throughout the empire, and advertisements ar"e to be inserted m the local and agricultural journals, reminding the proprietors of potato fields and patches of/ the order which makes it incumbent upon them to at once report the appearance of the beetle on their ground. If the area infected provis not; to be very large, all plants and foliage on it are to be burned, the ground covered with benzine, and the latter set on fire. The cost of carrying out this measure will ammount to from 10,000 to 12,000 marks per hectare. Where, therfore, the plague is found too widly spread to allow of the adoption of this expensive method of treatment, the beetles, larvas, and eggs are to be carefully gathered, and the plants sprinkled thickly with arsenic. The patclu s of ground which- were visited by the beetle lasb year are to be agxin planted with potatoes, m order that should any of the insects have wintered m the place where they first appeared, ilny may not be forced to travel further afield m search of food and nourishment ; but may, on the contrary, be capture:! on the spot as they emerge from the ground to feed, — < Pall Mall Gazette.' .