CLOVER CULTURE. 



109 



are hatched in about a week, and the maggots first feed in the 

 cavity made by the parent for their accommodation. When 

 somewhat grown, they begin to burrow downward, following 

 out the different branches of the root. The pupa is formed 

 in a smooth cavity, generally at the end of one of these burrows, 

 and may be found there in the fall. This, of course, greatly 

 weakens the plant, and it is not able to produce a seed crop ; 

 hence, where farmers find clover after the first cutting in the 

 fall not producing seed heads, they may suspect the presence 



of the clover root borer. A very 

 slight investigation will discover the 

 presence of the pest. The stalks 

 pull up easily and sometimes push 

 before the mower. Thus, the borer, 

 as will "be seen from the above de- 

 scription of its habits, affects only 

 the second year's crop, as the first 

 year's crop is not sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to allow the female to deposit 

 her eggs, there being no crown or 

 sufficient root development for the 

 support of the young. The only 

 known method of avoiding the rav- 

 ages of this pest is to plow up the 

 field and plant it to corn, a remedy 

 not applicable, however, in fields 

 where clover is growing as part of 

 the permanent pasture. From its 

 habits the clover root borer cannot be 

 distributed as rapidly as the clover 

 seed midge. It prevails, however,over 

 a large part of the country, having 

 been abundant as far west as some counties in northern Iowa, 

 for some years. Fortunately, the farmer does not suffer any 

 serious loss by being compelled to plow up his clover field at 

 the end of the second year, the main loss being the deficient 

 yield of the affected plant and the failure of a seed crop. In 

 many places where it has appeared, this singular fact has been 

 noted, that while they may ruin whole fields one season, the 

 borers may be quite rare the next. This would indicate 

 either that it has some parasite enemies, or that they are 

 destroyed in great numbers while hibernating in the ground 

 in the winter, or that the old plants have been destroyed 

 and sufficient young ones have come forward from self- 

 seeding to maintain the stand. 



Another insect that affects clover injuriously is the flaves- 



THE CLOVER BOOT SOBER. 



