MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 347 



the winter in the roots, are questions which are not yet 

 decided; and until we get a more comprehensive knowledge of 

 this insect's ways and doings, we shall be in a measure power- 

 less before it. From all the facts that can be obtained, the 

 first hypothesis is the correct one, and in that event we can, in 

 an emergency, easily get rid of this pest by plowing up and 

 destroying the plants soon after they have done bearing, or say 

 about the latter part of June in the southern part of the 

 State. By doing this the whole brood of borers will perish 

 with the plants. Most strawberry growers renew their plants, 

 in some way or another, about every three years, and where 

 this insect abounds, it will be best subdued by destroying the 

 whole bed at the time already suggested, and afterwards plant- 

 ing a neAV one, rather than by annually thinning out the old 

 and leaving the new plants in the same bed. Here we have 

 an effectual means of extirpating the little pest, if, as I believe, 

 the first hypothesis is the correct one ; but if the second hypo- 

 thesis' be correct, — i. e., if the insect be double-brooded, — then 

 it will avail nothing to carry out the above suggestions, and 

 we thus see how important it is to thoroughly understand an 

 insect's habits, in order to properly cope with it. Though we 

 may occasionally hit upon some plan of remedying or prevent- 

 ing an insect's injuries without knowing its habits, yet as a 

 general rule we but grope in the dark until we have learned 

 its natural history ! 



According to Mr. Miller, all plants infested with this larva 

 are sure to perish, and he has also noticed that old beds are 

 more apt to be injured by it than new ones. 



In one of the roots received from him, I found a parasitic 

 cocoon, so that there is every reason to believe that, as is so 

 very generally the case with insects, this noxious species has at 

 least one natural enemy which will aid us in keeping it in due 

 bounds. Indeed, Mr. Miller so often found this parasitic 

 cocoon, that he at first surmised that the Crown Borer spun 

 it. But no snout-beetle larvae spin cocoons. 



