190 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



burrowing and feeding in the roots, and during late May and 

 early June the females deposit their eggs along the sides of the 

 tunnels. "The female gouges out a shallow cavity, more often in 

 the crown of the plant, sometimes at the sides of the root even 

 2 or 3 inches below the crown, and in this 

 places singly, but not far separated, about 

 a half dozen pale whitish, elliptical, very 

 minute eggs. These hatch in about a 

 week, and the larvae for a time feed in 

 the excavation made by the mother, 

 s Dut soon burrow downward into the root, 

 and before the 1st of August, the majority 

 of them have become full-grown, and 

 passed into the pupal stage. By October 

 nearly all have become fully developed 

 beetles, but they make no attempt to 

 leave the plant until the following spring/' 

 The spread of the insect occurs very large- 

 ly in the spring when the beetles fly from 

 field to field, seeking uninfested plants in 

 which to perpetuate their kind. 



It has been observed that alsike clover is 

 not so badly injured as the mammoth and 

 common red clover, on account of the 

 fibrous roots and the tendency of its tap- 

 root to divide. In Europe alfalfa is injured, 

 but little injury has yet been reported to 

 that crop in this country, as yet. 



"While an infested clover plant sooner 

 or later succumbs to an attack by this in- 

 sect, life may be lengthened or shortened by 

 FIG. 159. Clover root meteorological conditions. Thus, if the 

 showing work of clover spr i ng or ear i y summer i s very dry, the 

 root-borer. Slightly en- \ . . / . . , _ , , . T 

 larged. (After Web- plants begin to dry in patches late in June, 

 ster,) U. S. Dept. Agr. as soon as ^he nav crop is removed; but 

 if there is much rain during this period, the weakened plants may 

 continue to live until winter, dying out before spring. In either 

 case the farmer is likely to be misled and attribute the loss 

 to the weather." Clover is practically exempt from attack the 



