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No. 225. Moral 26 OSS
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he SOME INSECTS

y| _ ATD GARDENER

The wise home gardener recognizes and encourages her insect friends
for some of the insects commonly found on garden plants are of great help in de-
stroying insects that are pests.

The familiar small red-or orange-colored beetle with black spots
on its back, called the "lady beetle" or lady bird," is one of the most helpful
o& all insects because it eats the plant lice or aphids that attack so many
Barden plants. lady beetles also eat the eggs of many other injurious insects,»
Entomologists find that an adult lady beetle requires a daily ration of 50 to 80
plant lice. Mistaken gardeners have sometimes supposed that these small beetles
Were the parents of aphids or plant lice, rather than their enemies.

Another insect that feeds on aphids is a green sluglike maggot
about half an inch long, often marked with whitisn stripes. These maggots also
are oiten seen in the company of aphids on plants because they are feeding on
these pests. The small yellow black—banded syrohus fly is the adult of these
helpful green worms.

still other helpful insects are ground beetles, lace-wing flies,
and tachina flies which do much to cut down the number of insects that feed upon

‘Plants in the garden,

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