206 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



first symptoDi of trouble is the wilting of the young corn. If an exam- 

 ination be made immediately, small bla/?k beetles, less than one-fourth 

 of an inch in length, will be found boring into the plants just above the 

 crowns. The beetles have long snouts like the curculio but are deep 

 black in color. Fortunately there is but one brood each year, and the 

 injury, as far as corn is concerned, is done by the adult beetles alone. 



REMEDIES. 



While the bill-bug is known best by its work on corn, it is really 

 timothy that suffers the most from its ravages. Working as it does in 

 the bulbous roots of the timothy, it is able to pass unnoticed unless it 

 occurs in very large numbers. Here in the timothy bulbs, .are passed 

 the immature stages, the adults emerging at just the right time to attack 

 the young corn. The moral is not to plant corn after timothy in places 

 where one has reason to fear the presence of the beetles. When the 

 beetles have once come out and done their work in the corn, there seems 

 to be no danger from re-seeding, for there is but one generation each 

 year and the beetles require timothy for their early development. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE FOLIAGE. 



Corn Leaf -aphis {Aphis maidis) . 



Seasons that open with a wet spring, followed by moist weather in 

 early summer are usually aphid years. During such years, we usually 

 hear from the leaf-louse of corn. Fortunately in Michigan its visits are 

 not numerous, and when it does appear, it usually starts from some few 

 points in the field, spreading slowly, and that too, after the plants have 

 had a chance to get a good start. 



Plants infested with such lice, are easily distinguished by their sickly 

 appearance and by the numbers of lice on the leaves. 



REMEDIES. 



In the garden, prompt spraying of the infested plants Avith kerosene- 

 emulsion or tobacco-water will check the lice and prevent their spread. 



Grasshoppers {Melanoplus atlanis, M. femur-rubrum, Camnula pellucida. 



Of the many forms of grasshoppers known in the Un-ited States, Mich- 

 igan has less than half a dozen of real economic importance, and of 

 these we may consider three as pests of the garden. They are, the 

 lesser migratory locust, the red-legged locust, and the pellucid locust. 

 Of these, the first two look very much alike, and as far as their appear- 

 ance goes, they may be treated as one. They are both dull olive-green 

 in general color, with an oblique yellow stripe under the wings. The 

 hind-legs are red. The species look so much alike that it is an almost 

 hopeless task for the farmer to distinguish between them; their habits 

 however, are not quite the same. Grasshopper outbreaks, in our State, 

 are quite likely to be due to large numbers of the lesser migratory 

 species, rather than of the red-legged locust. The j)ellucid locust is 

 smaller than the other two, and brown in color. The wing-covers have 

 the basal half brown, and the apical half translucent excej^t for spots 



