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Show Bed Loaf-Medic More Destructive In Western Than In Eastern Fields I The: I. t Ical'-l.c.-lh- c;ui. be trapped by placing heaps of weeds or liim-hes of ;Mraw or hay in alkali ana:;. The beetles M-ek illieli) as v inler ( u.i i l ei :;, u Mil I li u s I I ec hibernal hi-bernal ion may he esi royed by burn-inn. burn-inn. In lie; Kocky mountain slates the Micar In -t-t is subject. Id injury by the yellowish beello known both as the bee.t lea I'-beet le anil tile "alkali bug." The a ppea ranee, activities, and methods meth-ods for control of this pesr are described de-scribed in a new farmers' Bulletin, No. 11 It:!, I'niled States department "of ugricull lire. The beet leaf-beetle appears along- tho At lain' io .seaboard from Massachusetts to Florida, and California near the seacoast, and In ho alkalino regions of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho and Montana. In its eastern occurrence it is not injurious. It also occurs in portions of Kansas and Texas. The main injury is due to attack by the larvae, or young, but the mature beetle also inllicts considerable damage, dam-age, hand reds frequently being found ou a single plant. Tho adult -boot leaf-beetle measure's meas-ure's from one-quarler to one-third -of an' inch in length, and is oblong form, narrow in front, and varying in color from pale yellow to' buff. The egg iji rounded, oval, and piile orange-yellow when laid, 'changing ito dull brownish-gray. Kggs are deposited de-posited usually on' end in irregular clusters, sometimes in layers varying vary-ing in number from 2 to 50 The I lieet-leaf-bc-etle under normal conditions condi-tions subsists upon various weeds which grow in waste alkali soil, but in the spring, before the weeds are abundant, beetles often infest young beets and destroy them. I.a.'ttr, after killing 'the available weeds, the insects again resort, to sugar beets for food. Many hundreds hun-dreds of acres of beets thus are Infested In-fested every year. The beet leaf-beetle leaf-beetle also is injurious because It acts as a carrier or distributor of the spores of 'the leaf-spot disease. The b-eetl ciUs large, irregular holes through the leaves of. the sugar beet, and. the larvae do similar injury, 'eating pits in the ' lea.ves . without cutting through. Ladybird beetles .of,', three species devour the egg of . this insect.. ;A bug feeds on the larvae and beetles. Mites, spiders, and a fungous disease hlso attack it. Chickens feed readily read-ily on the beetles. One of the best methods of control is to take advantage of the winter habits of the beetles. They generally pass the . winter in alkali areas tin-tier tin-tier tufts of grass, especially "tickle grass," dead weeds and other rubbish.- They may be trapped by placing plac-ing heaps of weeds or bunches of straw or hay in alkali areas and destroying de-stroying the traps after the beetles have hibernated. This work should be thoroughly done to get good results. re-sults. The best time is between the middle of November and the first week of March. Weekly News Letter. Let-ter. ' |