VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



1-27 



White Grub. 



These are the thick, white, curved grubs so common in the soil, and often 

 turned up when digging. They are the larval or grub state of the common 

 " King" or " Christmas " beetles and their allies, the " chafers." They vary 

 much in size, according to the age or the species, but are all very similar in 

 appearance. These grubs remain feeding in the soil on grass and crop roots 

 for two years or more before becoming full-grown, when they construct a 

 soft, rounded earthern cocoon, pupate therein, and thus pass their last winter 

 in the soil, to appear the following summer as adult beetles, which feed on 

 foliage. 



Where these grubs appear, rotation is recommended. The change crop in 

 each case is not so seriously infested, and return can afterwards be made to 



White Grub. 



the original crop. Deep working of the soil in late autumn is recommended, 

 as it destroys numbers of those which have pupated, by breaking their 

 earthen cells and exposing the helpless pupae to other insects, birds, and 

 frost. Treatment of the soil with lime, apterite, &c., has not been found to 

 give satisfactory results. 



Wireworm. 



Wireworms are the hard-bodied, smooth, yellowish-white grubs, commonly 

 found in the soil, and varying in sizes up to 1 J inches in length. These active, 

 wiry, quick-moving grubs or wireworms are the larvae of the common brownish 

 beetles known as " click " or " skip-jack " beetles, and the grubs remain at work 

 feeding on roots and growing in the soil from three to five years, when, like 

 the white grubs, they construct a small cell to pupate in, and appear as the 

 common brown beetle. 



Cultivation in the autumn destroys numbers of the cells and pupae, and 

 rotation of crops is also recommended . I 



Wireworms can be destroyed by feeding on bran poisoned with Paris 

 green (see page 131). 



