52 



REPORT OF 



No. 19 



jurious to the blossoms of the grape, upon which it clusters in great num- 

 bers and soon destroys all possibility of fruit, and it attacks the blossoms 

 of fruit trees, large and small, ornamental shrubs, flowers, and in ^fact al- 

 most any kind of vegetable growth. It appears in immense numbers, and 

 covers the plants that are attacked with a sprawling mass of beetles, full 

 of alarm to the careful gardener and anxious grower. 



The beetle is pale brown or drab in color, about >a quarter of an inch 

 in length, and with very long, spiny legs. The early stages of the insect are 

 passed underground in sandy meadow land, where as a grub it feeds upon 

 the roots of grasses and other plants. The eggs are laid by the female beetles 

 in the ground during June and July, and the grubs become full-grown 

 before winter; in the spring they turn into the pupa (or chrysalis) state, and 

 come out as winged beetles in June. For about five weeks in June and July 

 they abound, and then suddenly disappear, having completed their life 

 course, not to be seen again till the following summer. Happily there is 

 only one brood in the year. 



It is a remarkable fact that the ordinary insecticides have little or no 

 effect upon this pest, and it will eat blossoms sprayed with Paris green and 

 thrive upon them. Many experiments have been tried, and it is found that, 

 where the work is to be done on a large scale the congregated insects may 

 be repelled by a wash made bv adding about three pecks of freshlv-slaked 

 lime to a quart of crude carbolic acid in fifty gallons of water. This does 

 not kill the insects, but the smell of the carbolic drives them away. 



Fig. 15.— The Apple Bucculatrix. a, cocoons on twig ; b, single 

 cocoon ; c, moth, greatly enlarged. 



Another method is to spray the masses of beetles with half a pound of 

 fish-oil soap in a gallon of water. It is claimed that this will kill about 95 

 per cent, oi the insects. It acts by closing up their breathing apparatus 

 and causing death by suffocation. On a small scale much may be done by 

 beating the insects, in the early morning when they are sluggish, into pans 

 containing a little coal oil and then burning them ; or they may be knocked 

 off into an open umbrella and then destroyed. Choice grapes or plants niay 

 be protected with netting. 



It is now, however, almost too late to do much this season, as the 

 destructive period of their lives is nearly over, but measures should be taken 

 to prevent the recurrence of the pest next year. This can be done to a large 

 extent by breaking up all the sandy meadows or old pastures in the neigh- 

 borhood where the insects occur and putting: in some crop instead. They 

 do not breed in clay land, but in sandy soil, especially where it is damp 

 from want of drainage. In this case, as in many others, the destructive 

 insect has not much chance of annearing in injurious numbers if clean, scien- 

 tific farming is carried out with a proper rotation of crops. 



