8 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 1725. 
REMEDIAL MEASURES. 
As will be seen from the life history, the generations about to 
become adults are inactive wireworms from June to August, trans- 
forming to beetles in the early part of August. The resting and 
transforming wireworms usually are found at a depth of 4 to 8 inches, 
and any disturbance of the soil to such depth at this time will 
destroy them. The ground is very hot during this period of the year, 
and the air extremely dry, so that even the resting wireworms that 
are not actually crushed by the cultivation soon succumb to drying . 
when their cells are broken open. The usual farm practice in the 
Fig. 5.—The dry-land wireworm: a, Adult; 6, larva;c, under surface of head of larva; 
d, side of last segment of larva. a, 6, Enlarged; c, d, more enlarged. (Author’s 
illustration.) 
dry-land farming region of the Northwest where these wireworms are 
most troublesome may be roughly outlined as follows: 
Immediately after seeding the wheat in early spring the summer fal- 
low land is plowed to a depth of from 4 to 7 inches. This usually is 
done in April, but if horses and help can be spared from seeding, the 
summer fallow is plowed as early in the spring as the land can be 
worked. The next operation on-the fallow land is disking the land ° 
in June or early July to maintain the dust mulch and kill the weeds 
and volunteer wheat. Some of the more progressive farmers now 
practice fall plowing of the stubble and disking the fallow land only 
in the spring. The field is disk-harrowed early in the spring if the 
land has run together during the winter and is caked, otherwise the 
land is harrowed with a drag or spring-tooth harrow. It is then 
