818 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Nov. 2, 1920. 



the sap to such an extent that the upper surface of the leaves has a dirty 

 creamy appearance, and the plants suffer severely from loss of vitality. These 

 mires are hard to deal with while the plants are growing, but they can be 

 killed in thousands by burning the tops off with grass (in the way already 

 described) at the end of the season. A nicotine spray is effective where it can 

 be applied without interfering with the fruit, but plenty of water is perhaps 

 the best remedy. 



Another strawberry pest is the small weevil which eats the crowns out of 

 the plants occasionally, but I have not noticed much damage being done by 

 weevils in the Ryde and Pennant Hills district. The white curl grubs which 

 are commonly dug up in the ground, and which are the larvje of several 

 species of beetle, are about the worst pest here, particularly where bush 

 rakings from under eucalyptus trees are used for mulching. These beetles 

 feed on the leaves of the eucalypts, as well as on those of apricot, plum, and 

 other fruit trees, and when feeding on the gum leaves they drop their eggs 

 among the fallen leaves and other rubbish. When the grower gathers the 

 leaves for mulching, he gathers also the eggs of these beetles, and by this 

 means often introduces them into his strawberry plot. On the other hand, 

 when the adult beetles have been feeding on apricot and peach foliage in the 

 orchard close to the strawberries, the soft mellow soil which results from the 

 rotting leaves appeals to them as a most attractive laying ground. When 

 the young larvte hatch they feed freely on the roots of the plants, and when 

 plentiful will often^eat out patches rods wide. This pest has always been 

 with the strawberry grower to a certain extent, but during the last four or 

 five years it has increased in virulence. Sometimes a large bed will be so 

 badly damaged by June that it is found necessary to dig up the remaining 

 plants and transplant tliem in a new plot. When digging up the old plants 

 as many as possible of the grub lai-vaj should be destroyed, as if they are 

 allowed to pupate and emerge as beetles the number of eggs laii for the next 

 season will be considerably increased. 



So far no effective remedy has been found for white curl grubs. As 

 they feed on the roots only, and do not come to the surface, poisoned baits 

 (as used in the case of cutworm larvae, which come to the surface to feed) 

 are not practicable. Large growers rely principally on a semi-safety measure 

 consisting of keeping a young bed planted ahfad, so that if the old bed gets 

 badly affected they can turn their attention to the new one, and let the first 

 " take its chance." When the season is over and the larvse have pupated and 

 emerged as beetles, plots that have been infested by the grubs may be used 

 again, but it is wise to crop such plots with something else for one year, as 

 all the grubs may not pupate that year. 



As the nature of the strawberry industry renders it almost impracticable 

 directly to adopt spraying and other ordinary combative measures, the grower 

 must turn his attention to some other means of protection, and largely work on 

 the sound principle that prevention — and interception — is better than cure. 

 When a grower who has an orchard close by his strawberry plot finds his 

 apricot and plum trees swarming with golden or grey-coloured anoplog beetles, 



