108 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



many plants. As these White Grubs take so long to come to maturity, there 

 is no time during the growing season that they do not attack plants. Un- 

 fortunately the only remedy which has given any degree of success in garden 

 practice, is the ploughing or digging up of the land in late autumn, by which 

 time the larvae will have made their winter cells ; but where many perennials 

 are grown this would be difficult. This disturbing of the soil in autumn 

 breaks up their cells and exposes the larvae and pupae to the cold of winter. 

 In spring, when the ground is dug again, all White Grubs seen should be 

 picked up and destroyed. At this time if it is at all possible, should the in- 

 festation be severe, poultry or pigs may be turned into the garden. These 

 animals are very fond of White Grubs and it is claimed they will soon rid a 

 piece of land of them. In cities and towns it would hardly be possible to use 

 pigs for this purpose, but poultry might in many cases be used to advantage. 



WiREw^ORMS. (Fig. 40.) Occurring sometimes with White Grubs, 

 but more often by themselves, are slender yellowish, or reddish-brown, shin- 

 ing grubs, which feed on the roots of almost all kinds of plants, and have 

 somewhat the same habits as the White Grubs. These are Wireworms, the 

 larvae of the Click-beetles. The digging up or disturbing of the soil twice in 

 autumn, first in August, to destroy the tender pupae, and in October or later, 

 which will expose the newly formed beetles to the cold of winter, as men- 

 tioned under White Grubs, is also of use in reducing the numbers of this 

 class of insects. 



Tarnished Plant Bug. Lygus pratensis, L. This common plant 

 bug is troublesome, more or less, in gardens almost every season. When 

 it is very abundant it is a difficult insect to combat. It not only sucks 

 the juices from the leaves, but also attacks the flowers of many annual and 

 perennial plants, causing them to become distorted. The spraying of the 

 infested plants with kerosene emulsion or whale oil soap may be resorted to, 

 or they may be dusted with insect powder, but these remedies are not always 

 satisfactory. These bugs are most active during the heat of the day, but in 

 the early morning they are comparatively sluggish, at which time they may 

 be beaten off the plants into an inverted umbrella and then put into some re- 

 ceptacle containing coal oil and water. As this insect passes the winter in 

 the perfect state, all garden rubbish should be burned in the fall. This prac- 

 tice of cleaning up gardens is important, as it reduces the shelters which 

 harbor this and many other kinds of injurious insects. 



The Four-Lined Leaf-Bug. Poecilocapsus lineatus, Fab. Another 

 plant biig which is very destructive at times, and which is a bright greenish- 

 yellow insect, three-tenths of an inch long, with two black spots on the 

 thorax and four stripes of the same color down the back, is the Four-lined 

 Leaf-bug. This insect, unlike the Tarnished Plant Bug, passes the winter 

 in the e^^ state, the eggs being laid in the autumn in the terminal twigs of 

 currant and other bushes. The eggs hatch the following spring and the 

 young nymphs at once begin to feed on the foliage, which soon becomes 

 spotted with brown. The eggs are white and once they are known, it does 

 not take very long to looK over a bush and clip off the shoots containing them. 

 When the insects have been troublesome during the summer, the eggs should 

 be looked for in the fall and destroyed. A strong kerosene emulsion (1 to 6) 

 will reduce the numbers of the nymphs and perfect insects. Pyrethrum in- 

 sect powder dusted on the plants is also useful, as well as the beating of the 

 insects into open pans containing coal oil and water. The plants most at- 

 tacked in gardens are sage, mint, gooseberry, currant, weigelias, dahlias and 

 snap-dragon. 



