370 INSECTS. 



dig long holes, raise piles of dirt, devour and tramp down large 

 patches of meadow. They can usually be caught quite easily in 

 steel traps ; they can be shot if one has the patience to watch for 

 them. Where the ground is not too high and dry and a good 

 supply of water handy, by taking advantage of a wet time when 

 the soil is full of moistuie, they can often be drowned out and 

 made to come to the surface, where they make sport for the dog. 

 To help make the job a success, before beginning, draw several 

 barrels of water and pour them in quick succession down the 

 hole, which is in the highest place. 



Insects. The rest of this chapter is prepared for this volume 

 by my colleague, Prof. A. J. Cook. 



It is generally supposed, even by those best informed and most 

 interested, that our forage plants, including clovers and grasses, 

 are comparatively free from the devastation of insect pests. 

 While our fruits, vegetables and grains are known to be tunneled 

 or devoured at the root, girdled or fed upon at stem and foliage, 

 and blasted in the fruit, the same is not generally supposed to 

 be as true of the plants which give value to our pastures and 

 meadows. While Hams and Fitch give account of many in- 

 sects which prey upon nearly all others of our cultivated plants, 

 very few are mentioned that attack our grasses and clovers, even 

 by these great scientists and wonderful observers. Mr. J. Stan- 

 ton Gould, in his Forage Crops, knows only four insects which 

 attack the clovers, while at that time over seventy were known 

 to attack the apple. This is not because such enemies do not 

 exist, but rather because the plants fed upon are so abundant 

 that even great damage is either not noticed or else is supposed 

 to be due to drought or other climatic disturbance, or forsooth to 

 the "running out" of the crop. The very nature of our 

 grasses and clovers conceals insect ravages, and thus the harm 

 must become very patent or it will generally be all unobserved. 



At present over seventy different species of insects are known 



