242 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



at Hammond. You will see that there are two species, one much smaller than the 

 other. From the appearance of the infested plants, I take the larger specimens to be 

 either Tyloderma fragarioe, or T. foveolatum. "Will you kindly identify and suggest 

 remedial measures?' — R. M. Palmer. 



The specimens sent forward by Mr. Palmer were extremely interesting, and 

 showed distinctly the work of two different insects which attacked the roots in a sim- 

 ilar manner, but could be easily distinguished. All the plants sent were old plants, 

 with large crowns, from a stout caudex; and it was into this that the larvae bored from 

 the outside, leaving large cavities, and in some instances destroying the whole of the 

 interior of the stems. By the time the parcel readied Ottawa, most of the specimens 

 were pupse, and from these a little later I reared several specimens of the Black Vine 

 Weevil and of the Sleepy Weevil (Otiorliynchus ovatus, L.). This latter is a com- 

 mon weevil, and is a curious slow moving creature, which is frequently found in out- 

 of-the-way places. It may always be found out of doors at almost all times of the 

 year, when sifting moss or leaves to collect beetles. It frequently penetrates into 

 houses, sometimes in large numbers, and it has even been accused, with every appear- 

 ance of good reason, of having inflicted very painful bites on campers sleeping iu 

 tents during the summer time. It occurs commonly throughout Canada east of the 

 prairies, but I had not heard of it previously from British Columbia. The Sleepy 

 Weevil lias occasionally been accused of injuring potatoes, and Mr. P. J. D. Edmonds 

 sent me from Summerville, P.E.I., specimens with potato leaves, and the following 

 note : * I send you a sample of a new kind of potato beetle, showing the way he folds 

 himself up after cutting off the branches of potatoes. Please let me know what thi^ 

 is, and whether he is doing damage or how he can be destroyed. I did not actually 

 see this field, but I' am told that many of the stalks are stripped bare of leaves.' 



The Sleepy Weevil is only about half the size of the Black Vine Weevil, and in 

 of a dull pitchy brown colour, smooth and without any markings. It is always a very 

 slow moving beetle, and it is probable that some injury may have been attributed to it 

 for which it was not responsible. Prom its habit of hiding in dark comers, folded 

 leaves and in hollows, it is frequently found in close proximity to injury which may 

 have been done by other culprits. There is now no doubt that the larvas feed on the 

 roots of strawberries, and it is probable that they also attack the roots of many other 

 plants. I have frequently found the beetles in old grass fields, and I shall not be sur- 

 prised, especially after the observation made by Mr, Dashwood- Jones that strawberry 

 beds planted on sod were most injured by weevils, to find that the usual food plant of 

 both the Sleepy Weevil and its larger companion, the Black Vine Weevil, may be thp 

 roots of grasses. Should these insects become abundant in strawberry beds it will be 

 well for growers to adopt the one-crop plan which has been used very successfully by 

 Mr. Macoun, the Horticulturist of the Central Experimental Farm, and was adopted 

 many years ago by Mr. Peter Dempsey, at Trenton, Ont. This consists of setting 

 out new beds of strawberries in the spring, cultivating these for the first summer, 

 taking one large crop of berries the next spring, and then ploughing the plants up as 

 soon as the crop is off. In the meantime a new bed will have been set out from the 

 runners of the bearing bed early in spring before the fruit ripened. This plan of 

 strawberry culture not only prevents loss from the attacks of such enemies as the 

 White Grub and the above-mentioned Weevils, but is also a paying operation, giving 

 better returns from the higher price secured with the large fruit thus grown than from 

 a large crop of smaller berries. 



Both of the weevils here treated of are nocturnal, doing such injury as is attri- 

 butable to them at night and remaining quiet by day, hidden away in crevices or 

 beneath rubbish and other shelters. They can, therefore, be trapped in considerablo 

 numbers by placing objects about the beds convenient for them to hide in by day^ and 

 also easy of examination for the destruction of the beetles. 



