2r)8 BOAlil) OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. MuNSOX. I would like to inquire if fall ploughing 

 will not run out the larvas of the May beetle. 



Capt. Moore. I have no doubt that fall ploughing would, 

 to a certain extent, destroy these grubs, if it is done ver}'" 

 late in the season ; but the habit of the grub is to go some- 

 what below the frost and prepare for transformation. 



I will speak of another insect that does a great deal of 

 damage, particularly to fruit growers in the eastern part of 

 the State ; I do not know but you are exempt from it here. 

 I refer to it to show that a large porlion of these insects must 

 be attacked in the winged state. Take, for instance, the 

 rose bug. That insect cannot be destroyed, — I think I state 

 it advisedl}'', because he has put me to a good deal of 

 trouble, and I have looked him up, — he cannot be destroyed 

 except in the winged state. Why? You must study his 

 habits. I have investigated them and I find they are exactly 

 as Harris says in his book on insects. In eastern Massachu- 

 setts the insects make their appearance about the 1 0th of 

 June, and they increase in numbers until the 1st of July, 

 when they are very plenty. In July they pair, and some- 

 time in the latter part of July they lay their eggs. Those 

 eggs are deposited near the surfoce of the ground, hatch 

 in a very short time, and a little short grub, not more than 

 a quarter of an inch long, goes beneath the surface, and he 

 remains there until he gets to be larger. He is in the soil, 

 and you cannot get at him to kill him. I want you should 

 remember that. Then, sometime in October, I think, they 

 go down below the region of frost, usually ; and the next 

 spring, at the proper time, they have gone through their 

 transformation and come out of the ground again a perfect 

 rose bug. The females lay about forty eggs, so that if you 

 have caught two of those rascals, you will have about eighty 

 less to deal with the next year. If they do not get low 

 enough in the soil they are killed by the frost, and you are 

 exempt for a few years. That is the reason why rose bugs 

 are very plenty perhaps for two or three years, and then, 

 all at once, you do not see any of them for three or four 

 years. The simple reason is, or is supposed to be, that they 

 have been killed by the frost before they get through with 

 their transformation. 



