342 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fig. 66. 



be kept up just as long as the beetles are obtained, for one little beetle obtained 

 early in the season amounts to a good deal. It must be borne in mind that the 

 gouger does not thin the fruit as does the curculio, but that the gouged fruit 

 remains until late, drawing on the strength of the tree about as much as a perfect 

 plum. 



As most of the fruit falls before the beetles make their exit, immediate destruc- 

 tion of fallen fruit will make away with many beetles. Hogs accomplish this 

 very nicely but if hogs are objectionable, pick up the fruit by hand and bury 

 it just as soon as it falls. The arsenites do not seem to prove as beneficial as 

 we could wish, but no doubt they will pay for the application. Prof. C. P. Gillett 

 of Colorado, recommends the hand picking of all gouged fruit. This combines 

 the benefits obtained by thinning, with those resulting from the death of the 

 insect. 



INSECTS AFFECTING THE STRAWBERRY. 



AFFECTING THE ROOTS. 



The strawberry Root-borer. (Typophorus caneUiis.) 



A beetle that works on the strawberry plants, both in the larval and in the 

 adult stages, is the strawberry root-borer. The larva of this beetle has the 

 appearance of a minute white grub about one-eighth of an inch long, white with 

 a reddish-brown head. It feeds on the roots, changing to the pupal condition, 

 in a small oval cell, made by turning round and round in the soil. 



The full grown beetles appear here in great numbers during the first part of May. 

 They are about one-eighth of an inch long, stout, highly polished, iisually brown, 

 with four blackish spots on the back. The color, however, is variable, sometimes 

 being quite dark. The beetles pass the winter hibernating in rubbish, coming out 

 when the weather becomes warm, and laying the eggs for the l)rood that reaches 

 the adult stage in July. At this time thp adults feed on the leaves, and if 

 numerous attract attention. The July brood foods during the rest of the summer 

 on the foliage and then, hibernates, comin.g forth the following spring to repeat 

 the process. There are several closely allied species of beetles which differ in 

 the dates of their emergence and which pass the winter somewhat differently. 



