DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES 283 



In close, wet weather, the fruit and leaf stalks will some- 

 times suffer from mildew; and occasionally a microscopic 

 fungus, known as the strawberry brand, will attack the foliage. 

 I have also seen, in a few instances, a disease that resembled 

 the curl-leaf in raspberries. The plants were dwarfed, foli- 

 age wrinkled and rusty, and fruit misshapen, like small, 

 gnarly apples. In all such instances I believe in tonic treat- 

 ment, of wood-ashes, bone-dust, guano, and fertilizers of 

 like nature, used with care. Plants do not need over-doses 

 or over-feeding any more than we do ourselves. When a 

 few plants are diseased, I believe in rigorously rooting them 

 out and burning them. If a field is affected, as soon as 

 possible turn the plants under, and renovate the land with 

 clover, buckwheat, a light dressing of lime, and thorough 

 exposure to the air, light, and frost. By such methods, and 

 a wise selection of fertihzers, I believe that strawberries can 

 be raised on the same ground for centuries. My plants 

 have always been exceptionally free from all kinds of disease 

 or rust, and I attribute it to the liberal use of wood- ashes. 



But there is one enemy that inspires me with fear and 

 unmingled disgust. It is the type of a certain phase of 

 character in society most difficult to deal with, and which 

 the mantle of charity is rarely broad enough to cover, — the 

 stupidly and stolidly malignant, who have just sense enough 

 to do a great deal of mischief, and to keep it hidden until 

 too late for remedy. Science has dignified the detestable 

 thing with a sonorous name, as usual, — the Lachnosterna 

 Fusca, already referred to. It does not deserve even its 

 name in the common vernacular, — White Grub ; for its white 

 is of a dingy hue, and its head dark, hke its deeds. Has it 

 a redeeming trait? '' Give the de'il his due," says the pro- 

 verb. The best I can say of the white grub is that crows, 

 and an odorous animal I forbear to name, are very fond of 



