Februarj', '16] headlee: dusts and strawberry weevil 85 



his own conclusions. His work is recorded in several papers, the final 

 summary of which was presented in 1897 in Cir. 21, 2d Ser., Div. of 

 Ent., U. S. Dept. Agric. He points out that rehef may be had by: 

 (1) Covering the beds with muslin or other similar material, (2) Cul- 

 tivation of pistillate or of profusely blooming varieties, (3) The use 

 of trap crops and clean culture. He suggests a trial of Bordeaux 

 mixture as a repellent; the trial of Paris green and arsenate of lead, 

 alone and combined with Bordeaux. Chittenden particularly recom- 

 mends the practice of growing pistillate varieties, asserting that it has 

 been thoroughly tested and found to be successful. Little, if any, 

 progress in measures of control seems to have been made since the 

 publication of Cir. 21. 



For the sake of appreciating the nature of this problem of control, 

 we should remember: that the damage is due primarily to the ovi- 

 position habits of the adult; that it consists mainly in puncturing the 

 unopened starninate buds, laying an egg therein, and cutting the bud 

 stalk almost off at a point some distance below the bud; that the 

 attack begins just as the early buds begin to open and continues for a 

 period of about two weeks; that the insect can and does use the wild 

 strawberr}^, blackberry, dewberry, black-capped raspberry, common 

 yellow flowered cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis), and the red-bud 

 tree (Cercis canadensis) and frequents wild flowers generally for 

 feeding purposes. 



Covering the beds with muslin or other similar material has not 

 proven a practical measure for the larger growers. The cultivation of 

 pistillate varieties has not proven acceptable owing to the alleged in- 

 feriority of the fruit. The cultivating of profusely blooming varieties^ 

 has not proven acceptable. The use of trap crops has not met with 

 favor because all the labor incident to them will in many years be in- 

 vain owing to a natural reduction of the beetle. Clean culture fails, 

 to meet with favor for much the same reason. The use of arsenicals; 

 and Bordeaux mixture have not yet met with success. Chittenden 

 lists a host of so-called remedies as useless — lime, ashes, plaster, Paris 

 green and plaster, hen manure, a mixture of tobacco dust, lime, Paris 

 green and coal oil, pyrethrum, whale oil soap, kerosene emulsion and 

 sweeping with an insect net. 



In view of the wide range of food plants used by the strawberry 

 weevil, any effort to prevent its work by direct destruction through 

 clean culture and trap crops would seem doomed to failure except in 

 districts free from woodlands and undeveloped or waste lands. If 

 this is true, the problem of control is narrowed to one of rendering 

 the plants distasteful or deadly during the two weeks when the 

 damage is normally done. 



