192 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



THE PEA WEEVIL OR "PEA BUG" 

 (Bruchus pisi, L.). 



Attack, — A small, brownish gray, very 

 active beetle, i of an inch long, with two cons- 

 picuous black spots on the end of the body, 

 which emerges from seed pease in autumn 

 or in spring, leaving a small round hole. 

 This insect is generally spoken of under the 

 incorrect name of " pea bug," and infested 

 pease, as "buggy" pease. The egg is laid 

 on the outside of the young pod, and the 

 grub, on hatching, eats its way in and pene- 

 trates the nearest pea. Here it remains 

 Fig. 2.— The Pea Weevil — natural size and enlarged, until full-grown, consuming the interior of 

 the pea and passing through all its stages from a white fleshy grub to the chrysalis and 

 then to the perfect beetle. Some of the beetles, the percentage varying with the season, 

 escape from the pease in the autumn and pass the winter hidden away under rubbish or 

 about barns and other buildings. The greater number, however, do not leave the pease 

 until the following spring, so that they are frequently sown with the seed. 



The perfect insects fly easDy and resort to the pea fields about the time the blos- 

 soms appear. They have been observed feeding upon the leaves and flowers of the 

 pea vines before the pods were formed, but the injury so done is inappreciable compared 

 with the much greater loss from the injury to the seeds by the grubs. 



From the large numbers of beetles which I once found dead, after a severe winter, 

 beneath the shingles of a barn, I am led to believe that, in those seasons when a large 

 percentage of the beetles issue in the autumn, many are apt to be destroyed by severe 

 cold. 



Frequent inquiries come in every year for information concerning the Pea Weevil 

 and the best means of preventing its injuries. 



During the past season, from such reports as have been received, it would appear 

 that on the whole the Pea Weevil has not been quite so injurious as in formsr years. 

 Some correspondents, however, report that the injury is still considerable. 



" Picton, Prince Edward Co., Nov. 6 — Our big pea houses report that the Weevil 

 this year was not as bad as usual. Every effort is now made to destroy the Weevil by 

 what is called " bugging " the pease as soon as they are received from the farmers." — 

 [Wellington Boulter.] 



The insect itself and its life history are now well known in the districts where it 

 occurs ; and, if more care were taken to sow only uninfested peas© or those which have 

 been properly fumigated, there would be no diflSculty in reducing very considerably the 

 numbers of this pest, which every year affects so materially the value of the pea crop of 

 the Dominion. There are vast areas in Canada where good seed pease can be grown as 

 a paying crop, and where the Pea Weevil does not occur at aU. The advantage of 

 obtaining seed from these districts is obvious and has already been recognized by some 

 of the large seed firms. In addition to this, the method usually adopted of killing the 

 weevils, either as grubs or as perfect beetles inside the seed pease, by subjecting them 

 to the fumes of bi-sulphide of carbon, is perfectly effective. Most of the seed houses at 

 the present time treat their seed carefully and conscientiously, and the injury to the 

 crop is now done chiefly by grubs from eggs laid by weevils which have either left the 

 pease in the autumn and wintered over, or else from pease saved for seed in small quan- 

 tities by farmers who took no steps to destroy the weevil before sowing time. 



Writing early in the present season, Mr. T. G. Raynor, of Rose Hall, Prince 

 Edward Co., Ont., says : — "I do not think the pea weevil was nearly as bad in this 

 county in 1896 as in previous years. Perhaps the season had something to do with it. 



