THE WHITE-GRUBS. 25 



and others. Nor can their presence be readily detected, and as 

 a general rule most of the damage is done before we realize the 

 cause of it. We see plants die and then by digging in the 

 ground we find the culprits. There are a number of reme- 

 dies, however, that can be used in case we detect the pres- 

 ence of such white grubs in time; for instance, if we find 

 yellow spots in the lawn and on examination find the white- 

 grubs, we can under certain conditions kill them, providing 

 the soil is not a heavy clay and is not soaking wet. In a 

 dry and sandy soil the application of a strong kerosene- 

 emulsion, immediately followed by a drenching with water, 

 will carry the oil down to where the soft insects are and kill 

 them by contact. Four or five days after the application 

 we find the grubs dead and black. In cases where these in- 

 sects have already killed the sod we can use pure kerosene- 

 oil and follow this with lots of water to carry it down. But 

 after all one of the best remedies is to plow up the infested 

 fields and give the enemies of the white-grubs a chance to 

 eat them. All birds and mammals are exceedingly fond of 

 these fat grubs. Wherever the latter are present in our 

 prairies they attract large numbers of sea-swallows as soon 

 as the fields containing them are plowed. Our black tern 

 makes it a business to follo"w the plow for the sake of pick- 

 ing up such delicate morsels, and we see these birds con- 

 stantly darting to the ground for this purpose. Wherever 

 crows abound we find them also engaged in this good work 

 and numerous other birds have the same beneficial habits. 

 Such animals as skunks, weasels, shrews, gophers and even 

 field-mice feast upon them. In the more southern part of 

 the state the mole subsists almost entirely upon the white- 

 grubs and angle- worms. Whenever we plow^ or spade in the 

 garden we should permit chickens to witness this operation 

 and give them an opportunity to pick up white-grubs, which 

 they are not slow to do. If hogs are permitted to range in 

 our fields they soon exterminate white-grubs. 



Some people think that stable manure adds to the num- 

 ber of white-grubs, but this is only apparently the case. The 

 larva of another beetle remotely allied to the Lachnosterna 

 breeds in large numbers in manure heaps. The adult is a 



