88 CARNATIONS AND PINKS 



that it is most unwise to use manure from animals 

 that have been fed with anything the eelworm has 

 attacked." 



WIREWORM is one of the most deadly enemies of 

 the Carnation. It is found in the soil, as the eelworm 

 is, and works under ground. It is the larva of certain 

 beetles belonging to the family Elateridas, which are 

 known under the popular names of skip-jack, snap 

 beetle, and click beetle. The wireworm is well 

 known ; the grubs vary somewhat in size, according 

 to the kind, but the largest species is hardly more than 

 | inch in length and J inch in diameter ; they are of 

 a yellowish colour, with brown heads and legs ; the 

 latter are yellow, and placed near the head. The 

 click beetles are long and narrow insects, of a dull 

 brown, grey, or yellowish-brown colour as a rule, but 

 some are more brightly coloured. Wireworm is 

 seldom found in ground that has been cultivated 

 fora number of years. It infests pasture land, where 

 the beetles congregate and deposit their eggs, the 

 larvae living on the roots until they pass through the 

 usual transformations to the beetle stage. All sorts of 

 remedies have been suggested for their destruction. 

 They may be destroyed wholesale by trapping, but 

 Mr. Douglas writes : " There is no way known to me 

 whereby they may be annihilated." Carrots are the 

 best traps, or, failing these, potatoes will answer. 

 Thick slices of carrot or potato are stuck upon the 

 end of sticks and buried under the ground where the 

 wireworms are to the depth of from three inches to 

 six inches. After a week or so examine them, and the 



