Alfalfa in Kansas. 



391 



in length. When full grown, which is from fifty to sixty days after 

 hatching, the larvae crawl or drop to the ground and spin around them- 

 selves a cocoon composed of a network of rather loose, white threads. 

 This cocoon is usually in among the dead leaves or rubbish. The insect 

 remains in the pupal stage from ten to fourteen days, and then the 

 beetle emerges. The adult feeds on the stems, leaves and buds until 

 autumn or their hibernating time. Professor Webster, of the United 

 States Bureau of Entomology, says: "The entire life of the insect, from 

 the deposition of the egg to the emergence of the adult, may be anywhere 

 from forty to seventy days, while the beetle itself may live, including 

 the winter, from ten to fourteen months." 



Methods of Control. 



Although methods of control have not as yet been satisfactorily de- 

 termined, Professor Titus, entomologist of the Utah Experiment Station, 

 has made extensive experiments with various methods, and in sum- 

 marizing the methods of control recommends: "That alfalfa be disked 

 in early spring to stimulate it to better growth; that the first growth 

 be cut when most of the eggs have been laid (middle of May in Utah) 

 and then brush-drag the field thoroughly. Fields should be brush-dragged 

 again after the first crop has been cut. All weeds and rubbish should 

 be cleaned from the field, yards, ditches and fence rows, so that there will 

 be less opportunity for the weevil to find winter shelter. Alfalfa should 

 not be allowed to grow more than seven or eight years in the infested 

 districts." 



The Brush Drag. 



The following pattern and construction of a brush drag is recom- 

 mended by Professor Titus: "Many patterns of the brush drag are in 



use, but the one which seems to be the 

 best for our work is made by laying 

 the butts of rather short brush, five or 

 six feet long, in a row on a plank 

 twelve or fourteen feet long, then an- 

 other row should be laid upon the first, 

 consisting of longer brush, with the 

 butts trimmed a little further back, so 

 that you will have in effect two brush 

 harrows, one following the other. An- 

 other plank should then be laid on the 

 brush butts and bolted to the under 

 plank. In weighting this harrow, lay 

 an ordinary tooth harrow, with the 

 teeth down, directly on the brush drag. 

 (Fig. 338.) This makes a very even 

 weight, at the same time it is so flex- 

 FIG. 338. Brush drag. (After Titus, ible that the drag will work its way 

 Utah Exp. Sta.) down into the small depressions as well 



as over the larger elevations of the field. 



"The brush drag has for its main object the knocking of the larvae 

 feeding on the stubble to the ground, where it mangles many of them 



