19 



The remaining invasions have either been recorded in my first arti- 

 cle, or have been reported by various correspondents since that paper 

 was published. Some of these corresjioudents write that the insect 

 and its work have been noticed in Virginia for six or seven years in the 

 past, and in Maryland for upwards of ten years. Mr. James Fletcher 

 writes that he has an occasional reference to it every year. 



REMEDIES. 



Although a difficult insect to contend with, it wouhl not be impossible 

 to keep it in check in some districts, if all the strawberry growers of a 

 neighborhood could be induced to combine in the work of clearing 

 away wild plants and destroying the insects in their flelds. In other 

 places, however, where wild blackberry, strawberry, and Potentilla, in 

 which the insect normally breeds, grow so abundantly, as in some 

 localities about Washington, it would seem next to useless to attempt 

 to control it. 



Burning Brush-ivood in Spring. — The practice of "burning over" the 

 underbrush and weeds in the spring so universally in vogue in parts 

 of Maryland and Virginia is undoubtedly iiroductive of good results 

 in protecting the cultivated strawberry from the weevil and other insect 

 enemies. In past years the strawberry weevil has always been abund- 

 ant on the wild blackberry and strawberry that grow in the greatest 

 profusion along the shores of the Potomac near Washington, but the 

 past two seasons this insect was comparatively scarce, and this falling 

 oit' can only be attributed to the unusually close burning over of the 

 weeds and shrubbery of the vicinity. The blackberry bushes were very 

 generally killed, and it is quite likely that the hibernating beetles were 

 destroyed by the heat. 



Traj) Crops. — Excellent proof that the beetle may be successfully 

 trapped by planting early-flowering varieties with other berries was 

 aftbrded this year. In a field of " Sharpless " a few " Charles Downing" 

 were growing, and although the latter bloomed only a day or two in 

 advance of the former the greater abundance of the weevils on the 

 "Downings " was at once apparent. By laying out our beds with the- 

 earliest blooming staminates on the sides which experience has shown 

 to be the most likely to be first attacked, e.g., toward wooded land, the 

 beetles can be massed where they can be more profitably reached with 

 insecticides. 



By transplanting a few trees of red-bud to the vicinity of the straw- 

 berry fields, placing them between the beds and the nearest m oodland, 

 the hibernated brood of beetles could be reduced to a minimum. This 

 tree, which blooms several days before the earliest strawberries, attracts 

 the first arrivals. As soon as the buds appear the tree should be 

 jarred and shaken daily, and the beetles, together with the buds in 

 which they have laid their eggs, gathered on sheets saturated with 

 kerosene, which will destroy them. The trees may also be profitably 



