248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Regarding its ravages in strawberry-beds, I cannot do bet- 

 ter than quote from Dr. Lockwood's excellent account in the 

 " American Naturalist " : " When on a visit in September last 

 to the farm of a celebrated strawberry-grower in Monmouth 

 County, N. J., my attention was directed to certain large 

 patches badly thinned out by, as the phrase went, 'the worm.' 

 The plants were dead on the surface and easily pulled up, the 

 roots beina: eaten off below. It was observable that the fields 

 which presented the worst appearance were all of the same 

 kind of plant, — that known as Wilson's Albany Seedling. 

 Besides this there were nine other varieties under culture, — 

 Barne's Mammoth, Schenck's Excelsior, the Agriculturist, 

 Triomphe de Gand, Cutter's Seedling, the Jucunda, Pine- 

 apple, Early Scarlet and Brooklyn Scarlet. While the Wil- 

 son stood second to none of these as a prolific fruit-bearer, 

 yet it fell behind them in vigorous plant-growth. Hence, 

 while every kind was more or less aflected, the other varieties 

 seemed saved by their own growth and energy from a de- 

 struction so thorough as was that of the Wilson. These 

 patches were all planted in the spring, and all received the 

 same treatment, the ground being kept open and free from 

 weeds. The amount of the spring-planting was seven and a 

 half acres. Of the Wilsons there were three diflerent patches 

 in places quite separated from each other, and on not less than 

 five different kinds of soil. These patches were among and 

 contio-uous to those of the other varieties. While all suffered 

 more or less, the chief injury befell the Wilsons, of which not 

 less than two acres were irretrievably ruined. An exami- 

 nation turned up the depredator, who was none other than the 

 larvae of the Goldsmith beetle, now engaged in the first one of 

 its allotted three-summer campaigns of mischief. These grubs 

 were from the eggs deposited in June in the well-tilled and 

 clean soil, which, I have said elsewhere, I thought the Co- 

 talpa preferred to meadow or grass lands. Compared with 

 others, the larva of this beetle is sluggish and easily captured. 

 The black grub of the spring, which is such a pest, attacking 

 almost indiscriminately the early tender plants, inflicts its in- 

 juries chiefly in the night, the exception being that of dull 

 and cloudy days. The night's mischief done, it descends into 

 concealment at early dawn. Knowing this, the wise farmer 



