of doing
this. Any of them must be repeated two or three times a day, for there
seem to be successive waves of the beetles. In a few days the danger is
past.

My own method is to get a helper, and, taking one plant at a time, knock
the beetles off and kill them with a stick. It is a joy to look upon the
heaps of slain when all is done. Whenever the plant upon which it is is
jarred in the slightest, this beetle falls to the ground exactly as
though it were dead. Only for a second, however, then it runs for dear
life. That is why it takes more than one person, for it's no child's
play to kill a score of scampering bugs in a quarter of a minute.

[Illustration: QUILLED GERMAN ASTER]

My other half's way is to get a fresh supply of insect powder
(Dalmation, Persian, Bubach, etc., whatever name it may be sold under)
and squirt it thickly over the bugs by the use of one of those 10-cent
powder guns that all druggists keep. It is effective if the insect
powder is fresh.

[Illustration]

Other remedies are to put netting over the bed; to spray the plants with
poisoned water, made by stirring 1 teaspoonful of Paris green into 2
gallons of water; and to use kerosene emulsion. The last is made after
this formula: 1 tablespoonful of kerosene beaten up with half a cupful
of milk. Dilute with 2 gallons of water.

Do not forget that any remedy must be used two or three times a day
while the raid is on.

ROOT-LICE, BLUE APHIS, etc., is one of the most common enemies of the
Aster. When the plants are almost at their best the tops turn a peculiar
sickly green, or they wilt, or become brown. They die quickly unless
something is at once done. Pull one up and the roots are found alive
with a little insect that looks like a plant louse. Insecticides poured
on the soil rarely kill the pests. A bed that has been ashed, or had a
mulching of tobacco stems, as has already been advised, will have
escaped.

Where the root lice have already commenced, Rexford recommends drawing
the dirt away until the roots are exposed, then sifting tobacco dust
thickly over them replacing the soil afterwards. Others recommend
flooding the bed with kerosene emulsion in the same way. While some have
success, others claim failure by either of these methods. Here is a way
of dealing with root lice, however, that is always sure.

Heat a lot of water. Then pull up every affected plant, shake the dirt
off their roots, and dip them quickly into scalding water.