234 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



a beetle was noted to escape. This pile remaining continued to col- 

 lect beetles for ten days more, the record being as follows : 



Beetles collected. 



March lOlli :._ : ^ 80 



March 19th _____^ ^^^ : 15 



March 26th 70 



Total 1 165 



Allowing three piles of straw to the acre and assuming that half of 

 these beetles were females and each female lays an average of 100 

 eggs, and one-half of these eggs develop into worms, this would repre- 

 sent an infestation of approximately 12,375 worms to the acre, which 

 is probably considerably more than the average infestation. By 

 placing these piles of straw in the fields about the first of March and 

 burning them at the proper time, these worms could all be eliminated 

 at a cost of less than 25 cents per acre. It w^as interesting to note 

 that the piles of straw which were wet and soggy did not harbor any 

 beetles. This would necessitate the turning over of the straw piles 

 in case of rain. These experiments were carried on in a field which 

 had not been worked up after the rains. We would anticipate some 

 decrease in effectiveness on land which had been worked up after the 

 rains, as some of the beetles would undoubtedly take refuge among 

 the clods. However, it is thought that this cletraction would not 

 seriously impair the success of the undertaking, provided the piles of 

 straw are placed at the proper time. While it takes two and three 

 years to realize any benefit whatever from this method, it strikes at 

 the root of the worm trouble in the cheapest and most direct way pos- 

 sible. It is the writer's opinion that a district-wide campaign along 

 the lines outlined above and continued each spring for a period of 

 three years would show Avonclerful results in lessening the amount of 

 worm damage. 



CULTURAL METHODS OF USE. 



Occasionally a farmer is met who believes he can control wireworms 

 by some special cultural method, such as packing the ground with a 

 crosskill, deep or shallow^ plowing, etc. Excepting fall plowing men- 

 tioned elsewhere, the writer does not believe these methods are of any 

 practical value. 



One field on the Donlon ranch which was badly infested with wire- 

 worms in 1914 was planted to barley in the fall, with the intention 

 of turning it under as a cover crop in the spring of 1915. This barley 

 was about 18 inches high when it was turned under in March, and the 

 land was planted to beans in May. It was interesting to note that 

 these beans suffered very little from wireworm attack, although it is 

 believed that there were large numbers of worms in the ground. The 

 supposition is that the worms had already satisfied their hunger to a 

 large extent through feeding on the barley, or possibly they preferred 

 the tender barley shoots to the beans. However, it would take obser- 

 vations extending over a series of years to proi)erly determine the 

 value of such methods. 



Another common practice working along the same principle is to 

 plant 100 pounds of seed instead of the customary 50 or 60 pounds, 



