525 



CoNFiENZA (F.). La tignola dell' uva. [The vine moth.] — Consigliere 

 deir Agricoltore, Turin, iii, no. 5, May 1915, pp. 165-166. 



Trials made by the Cattedra Ambulante di Agricoltura of Turin 

 show that a 1 per cent. soUition of lead arsenate or a 11 per cent, 

 solution of phenicated tobacco extract [tobacco extract rendered 

 useless for other purposes by the addition of a little phenol] are the 

 best sprays against the vine moth. 



Bencomo (C). El Pasador del Tabaco. [The tobacco wireworm.] — 

 Privately printed [s//ie /oco], 1915, dated from Port au Prince, 

 Haiti, 3Ist July 1914, 13 pp., 1 plate. 



The numerous workers who have studied the insect pests of 

 tobacco only mention the tobacco wireworm, Agriotes (Elater) segetis, 

 in a general way, owing to the fact that this insect is properlv an 

 enemy of cereals and vegetables. Only in Cuba has it specially 

 attacked tobacco, and this is due to the fact that from 1855 to 1860 

 the Cuban tobacco planters were in the habit of growing vegetables 

 in their plantations. Later, this custom was discontinued and the 

 larvae of this pest, having enormously increased, were compelled to 

 feed on the roots of the tobacco plant. If lettuce roots are provided, 

 the wireworms will attack them in preference to those of their 

 accustomed host. As an instance of the ignorance existing in Cuba 

 with regard to this pest, the author states that, in 1911, light- traps 

 were recommended as one means of controlling the adult beetles, 

 which are diurnal in habit. In Cuba, the adults emerge in April, 

 mate in May and die shortly afterwards. The eggs are laid in lots 

 of ten at the base of the young plants. The larvae remain near the 

 surface of the soil up to October in the first year and from April 

 onwards in the succeeding ones. Complete development takes from 

 three to four years in warm climates, five years in cold ones. The 

 greatest injury is done in the second and third years. The author 

 does not believe that injections of carbon bisulphide are of much use, 

 and also discountenances watering the soil with a solution of crude 

 naphthalene in water. As a radical, cheap and speedily efficient 

 control, he suggests that in the first or second week in July the ground 

 intended for planting should be covered with dried cane-trash, dried 

 grass, etc., which should then be burnt. The rapid, intense flame will 

 destroy the larvae without calcining the humus layer. When worked into 

 the soil, the ash will kill any surviving larvae. After harvesting the 

 tobacco crop, all green material should be dried or burnt ; if required 

 for manure it must be removed and stored elsewhere under proper 

 conditions. The universal adoption of the above methods for three 

 consecutive years should eradicate the pest. 



V. Feilitzen (H.). Ett svarartat angrepp av dvargstrlt pa hostrag 

 hosten ISl*. [A serious attack of Jassus sexnotatus, Fall., on 

 autumn rye, in the autumn of 1914.] — Landtmannen, Linkoping, 

 xxvi, no. 19, 8th May 1915, pp. 169-172, 4 text figs. 



Attacks by Jassus sexnotatus have previously been recorded only 

 twice in Sweden, viz., in 1902, in Skane, on oats, and in Blekinge on 



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