ly one by one and place in
cold water until cooled, after which place on a dish to dry. They should
be carefully scalded to remove the hard outside skin, done up in a
bundle, either by tying with strings or wrapping in a piece of netting,
placed in boiling water, to which a little salt has been added, and
allowed to remain there a few moments--a very few, for it cooks
quickly--until done.

These methods are recommended for white asparagus only, and when
properly dried and cooked asparagus so treated is by many considered to
be hardly distinguishable from the freshly cut, although it looses its
white color in the process. Smaller and green stalks may be dried on
wire frames or wooden racks over the kitchen stove, similar to apples.

XIV

INJURIOUS INSECTS

While a number of different insects feed upon the asparagus plant, there
are only two species which have so far become extensively distributed
and caused serious damage in the United States. Both of these were
imported from Europe, and are limited for their food supply to the
asparagus plant.

THE COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE[A]

(_Crioceris asparagi_)

This beetle is by far the most important enemy of the asparagus plant.
It was first noticed in this country at Astoria, L. I., now a part of
New York City, in 1859, but its actual introduction into that locality
occurred about 1856. The injury inflicted by this insect is due to the
work of both adults and larvae upon the tender shoots, which they render
unfit for market, early in the season. Later they destroy, by
defoliation, growing plants, and are particularly injurious to
seedlings, the roots of which are weakened by having their tops
devoured. Larvae, as well as beetles, attack the tenderest portions of
the plants, but the latter gnaw with seemingly equal relish the
epidermis, or rind, of the stems. The beetles are also accused of
gnawing young shoots beneath the surface, causing them to become woody
and crooked in growth.

The beetle illustrated in Fig. 42 is a most beautiful creature--from the
entomologist's point of view--slender and graceful in form, blue-black
in color, with red thorax and lemon-yellow and dark blue elytra or wing
covers, with reddish border. Its length is a trifle less than one-fourth
of an inch.

[Illustration: FIG. 42--COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE

_a_, beetle; _b_, egg; _c_, newly hatched larva; _d_, full-grown larva]

From the scene of its first colonization in Queen's Coun