400 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



height measuring from the base of the stem. The spaces made vacant 

 by the losses had just been reset with shghtly smaller stock. Yet 

 scarcely any of the plants kept from the first setting were found to be in 

 a sound state. Most of them looked healthy as they stood, showing no 

 injury above ground, when in fact, nearly every stem proved to be 

 blemished by one or more wounds, all of which had been originally 

 inflicted only on the part buried in the soil. 



Deterioration by withering and decay following upon the wounds had 

 in many cases reduced the tissues to shrunken and blackened shreds 

 which broke apart on the slight strain of a pull exerted by efforts -to 

 lift the plants. Such defects commonly marked the starting point of a 

 boring that penetrated upward through the soft heart, and these bored 

 stems occasionally contained a maggot. During the day before, the 

 owner took a number of withered plants and showed them to the 

 merchant, who on opening the cavities, exposed as many as seven 

 maggots infesting a single stem. 



The heart of some stems had been excavated up to the juncture of 

 the lower branches, and in one instance, a burrow extended onward for 

 a short distance into a thick branch itself. Among the plants examined 

 here, one happened to attract particular notice on account of a bunch 

 of new rootlets which had grown out from the base of the stem just 

 above a breach, the lower portion with the original root system having 

 become withered and practically dissevered. Although the vitality of 

 this plant indicated that it might attain to a fair growth, provided 

 no other harm should befall it, such an event, however, could only be 

 considered as a bare possibility. 



A visit to the coldframes of another grower afforded a view of the 

 effects of ruin as were displayed by part of a bed not yet replanted. 

 Judging by the havoc presented here, the owner's opinion that his loss 

 of stock amounted to 75 per cent of the entire first planting seemed to 

 be well founded. By taking his estimate of shortage and allowing it to 

 include all additional failures bound to occur among the remainder 

 of the plants, a very conservative comprehension could be derived 

 in respect to the plight of growers at large. 



Menace to Garden Peas and Seed Potatoes 



Attention was also called to depredations committed on young gar- 

 den pea vines in the same locality, but the plants appeared to be fully 

 able to withstand the injuries although the stems were badly scarred 

 at points beneath the soil. So far as was ascertained, the stems had 

 only suffered abrasions not much more than skin deep. The firm 

 structure of the heart had evidently proved to be impregnable against 

 attacks, and had therefore saved the plants from fatal damage. Search 



