374 FRUIT INSECTS 



requires a diet of pollen and the female as a rule instinctively 

 selects for oviposition the buds of those varieties only which 

 are well supplied with this substance. Varieties with imperfect 

 flowers, that is, lacking stamens, are attacked only to a shght 

 extent. 



Treatment. 



Practically all of the injury caused by the strawberry weevil 

 is due to the cutting off of the blossom buds by the female in 

 oviposition. Fortunately, as a rule, she confines herself in- 

 stinctively to the staminate varieties and leaves the plants with 

 imperfect flowers untouched. In view of these facts it has been 

 common to recommend the setting of varieties with imperfect 

 flowers for the main crop and planting only every fifth row to 

 some perfect flowered form in order to insure proper fertilization. 

 This method is said to have been used with success in Maryland 

 and Virginia. Owing to the difficulty of finding imperfect vari- 

 eties having all the other characters necessary to make them 

 commercially profitable, many growers in infested regions rely 

 on profusely blooming perfect flowered varieties. The weevils 

 attack theses, it is trnv, but owing to tlu^ abundance of blossoms, 

 generally enough arv \v\t to give a good crop. The greater 

 part of the injury is done within two w(M»ks after the first buds 

 mature on the early varieties. Wherever it is possible to have 

 the main crop come a Uttle later much of the injury can be 

 avoided. In fact, it might be worth while to use very early 

 profusely blooming j^erfect varieties as a trap crop. A row or 

 two of these plants should be set on the exposed side of the field 

 adjoining wood land or hedge rows in which the beetles hi- 

 bernate. The beetles will congregate on these rows and deposit 

 eggs there, after which the plants should be mowed, allowed to 

 dry and then burned, or they may be plowed under deeply, 

 thus kilUng the grubs in the buds. As a rule, it is not advisable 

 to plant strawberries next to wood lots or waste land, or to 

 tolerate hedge rows or overgrown fences in the vicinity. Such 



