THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



more uncertain. The lime is also bene- 

 ficial to the asparagus roots, hastening the 

 decomposition of the manure usually ap- 

 plied in large ijuantities to the beds. For 

 the past sixteen years I have used lime as 

 described on my asparagus bads, to keep 

 the insect in question in check, and it has 

 done it so effectually that about one ap- 

 plication every alternate season has been 

 sufficient. — A. S. F. 



A GOOD WORD FOR THE WHITE PINE WEEVIL. 



Whether the trait is the result of educa- 

 tion or otherwise it is quite evident that 

 man is far more ready to condemn than 

 praise the creatures, of whose history he 

 knows the least. Things are usually looked 

 upon as bad until something good of them 

 is learned. The masses place all insects, 

 with a few rare exceptions, like the Honey- 

 bee and Silkworm, among the evils of this 

 world with which we are compelled to con- 

 tend in our struggles for existence. That 



[Fig. 2.] 



PissODES STROBl : — a, larva ; b^ pupa ; t', beetle ; — hair-line 

 showing natural size. 



there are a vast number of species which 

 do more or less interfere with our pleasure 

 and profit is doubtless true ; but to attempt 

 to draw a line between those that could be 

 wholly dispensed with, and the really bene- 

 ficial, would require more wisdom than 

 usually falls to the lot of the most able 

 naturalist. As an illustration of the good 

 work, or assistance which one may receive 

 from an otherwise destructive species of 

 insect I will cite the operation of the White 

 Pine Weevil {Pissodes strobi Peck) on 

 my own grounds. Some ten years ago when 

 this insect appeared among some pine trees 

 growing in nursery rows, I concluded that 

 all would soon be ruined, for every leading 

 shoot was thoroughly perforated by the 

 grubs and of course killed. The loss of 

 the leading shoot, however only checked 



the upward growth of the main stem and 

 soon the next tier of branches bent inward 

 filling up the open space, and the loss of 

 the leader only made the side shoots grow 

 the more vigorously and the trees really as- 

 sumed a better and more stocky form than 

 before. Of course in small nursery trees 

 the continued loss of the leading shoots of 

 White and other species of pine would be 

 more or less detrimental because a tall 

 slender growth might be preferred to a 

 short and stocky one, and the nurseryman 

 could manage this matter to suit himself 

 better than with the aid of these insects : 

 still I am inclined to think that the Pine 

 Weevil has in many instances done a little 

 beneficial pruning that would otherwise have 

 been neglected ; for most persons, and even 

 good gardeners, are often very averse to 

 cutting out the leading shoots of evergreens, 

 an operation which is quite important in 

 producing good, broad, stocky specimens, 

 suitable for planting singly or in groups 

 upon a lawn. 



This Pine Weevil does not however con- 

 fine itself to the pines, but also attacks the 

 spruces and to these it is far less injurious, 

 because new shoots are produced from la- 

 tent buds on all parts of the wood and the 

 loss of a leader is soon made good by seve- 

 ral new side shoots, and the effects of the 

 check is to make the whole top fill up and 

 assume a more graceful form than if left to 

 grow unmolested by the weevils. Since the 

 advent of this Pine Weevil on my place 

 many of the large Norway spruces have 

 been greatly improved in their appearance 

 by the almost annual destruction of the 

 terminal or leading shoots, and no one 

 would question the benefit of this kind of 

 pruning after a glance at the trees, compar- 

 ing the weevil-pruned with those that have 

 .■scaped. I have only to regret that these 

 insects do not visit every specimen on my 

 [grounds, for it is no easy task to get at the 

 leading shoot of a Norway spruce thirty or 

 more feet high, and take it out with knife 

 or shears. If this is not done occasionally, 

 the trees grow altogether too tall and are 

 too poorly furnished with lateral branches, 

 to come up to my idea of perfection. Of 



