DADDY LONGLEGS. 41 



and reported. This helplessness is a very important 

 point, for thus the grub, instead of creeping away, is 

 kept under the action of the solution good for the 

 plant but bad for itself, and ultimately dies. 



Special chemical applications, only intended to kill 

 the grub, have (in the instances noted) been found not 

 to do good, because they are so much weakened in 

 passing through the ground that they are quite harmless 

 by the time they reach the creature they were meant 

 to kill. This has been the case with chemical acids, 

 — carbolic acid, for instance ; but whether we might 

 not do good by vegetable applications, such as that 

 of mustard-cake, is a matter for future consideration. 



The treatment may shortly be described thus : — 

 prevent egg-laying, if you can ; bury eggs and grubs 

 deej) down out of the way ; give your plant a good 

 start, and keep it well up under attack, if attack 

 <3omes. 



But, further, we should in this, and in all cases, 

 look at the special habit of the pest. The Daddy 

 Longlegs grubs cannot bear heat, light, and drought ; 

 therefore two kinds of treatment, apparently quite 

 opposed to each other, have been found useful, for 

 they both bear on the above habits. Hoeing has been 

 found useful, because thus, in dry sunny weather, the 

 powdery, dry ground is just what the " Leather- 

 jacket " grub dislikes. Also rolUng at night, or at 

 early dawn, does good ; for then, during the cool dusk 

 hours, we may catch many of the grubs on the sur- 

 face, and they may be crushed by the Cambridge 

 roller or Crosskill's clod-crusher ; and rolling the 

 ground firmly in this way likewise prevents some of 

 the grubs " travelling." 



There is one more point which has not been brought 

 forward, but which, by watching the habits of the 

 creature, I think might be very usefully worked in 

 garden-ground. I find the grubs like to lie under a 

 thin damp turf ; they will collect in large numbers in 

 such a spot. Probably it would answer well, in garden- 



