DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF FRUIT. 853 



Diseases and Enemies of Small Fruits. Some of the diseases and enemies of the 

 larger fruits are also known to attack the small fruits, but the majority are peculiar to certain 

 species of vegetable growths. We accordingly, for the sake of convenience, give in this 

 connection the treatment for the diseases and enemies of such small fruits as the strawberry, 

 blackberry, raspberry, currant, gooseberry, etc., as recommended by Professor A. S. Fuller, 

 an able authority on this subject. 



The Strawberry. &quot; Among the insect enemies of the strawberry the common White 

 Grub is probably one of the most destructive. It is the larva of the May-beetle, June-bug, or 

 Dor-bug, being known by all those names in different parts of the country. There are over 

 fifty distinct species of May-beetles found in this country north of Mexico, but the one here 

 referred to is our most common brown May-beetle, Lachnosterna fusca of Frohlich. These 

 beetles frequent meadows, pastures, and uncultivated fields, for the purpose of depositing 

 their eggs in places where their young will be sure of plenty of food, and not likely to be 

 disturbed. The young grubs as soon as hatched commence feeding upon the roots of various 

 plants, those of the strawberry and different kinds of grasses being preferred to the weeds. 

 These grubs live three years before passing through the pupa state and coming forth as 

 beetles. During these three years of constant work upon the roots of plants they may do 

 much damage to whatever kind they may attack. Their injury to strawberry plantations 

 results mainly from bad management and the failure of the grower to use preventive 

 measures. 



Good old pasture and meadow lands are frequently selected for strawberry plantations, 

 and sod is turned over, and as soon as sufficiently rotted, the plants are set out. In the mean 

 time the grubs that were already in the ground, and perhaps of various ages from a few 

 weeks to a year or two, have been fasting, or making an occasional meal of the half-decayed 

 grass roots. Finding fresh strawberry roots thrust before them, they commence a most 

 vigorous attack upon such tender food. The planter is astonished to see his strawberries 

 disappear, and wonders where all the grubs could have come from in so short a time. Now in 

 regions where the White Grub abounds it is not safe to set out strawberries on freshly inverted 

 sod ; but the land should be cultivated at least two seasons in some crop requiring frequent 

 hoeing and plowing, before using it for this purpose. Neither should the strawberry 

 plantation remain or be continued on the same piece of land for more than two or three 

 years, if what is called the matted or bed system of cultivation is pursued ; because the parent 

 beetle soon learns that these weedy, little-disturbed plantations, are a safe place for her to 

 deposit her eggs. 



To avoid injury to strawberry plantations by this insect, use land that has been occupied 

 at least two years in some hoed crop, like corn, potatoes, or beans, and then set out a new 

 one on fresh land as soon as the old ones begin to fail. As all the May-beetles are nocturnal 

 in habit many may be taken by using tubs of water with a floating light in the center. A 

 few hundred taken every evening during the first few weeks of summer will do something 

 toward diminishing the number of the succeeding generations in a neighborhood, but the 

 birds and domestic fowls are the strawberry grower s most efficient helpers in the way of 

 destroying May -bee ties and White Grubs. Among the various other kinds of insects injurious 

 to the strawberry there is perhaps none more destructive than that known as the Strawberry 

 Worm. This pest is a small, slender, pale-green worm that attacks the leaves, eating large 

 holes in them. When at all abundant it destroys the entire foliage, and of course prevents 

 further growth of the plants. A few years ago this pest almost ruined the plants in my 

 garden, and of late it has not been very abundant, although it has not entirely disappeared. 

 This Strawberry Worm is the larva of a small black fly (Emphytus maculatus). Dust 

 ing the leaves with lime would probably check the increase of this insect. There is also 



