284 SrcCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



it. This fact, I think, is its sole virtue, its one entry on the 

 credit side ; but there is a long, dark score against it. Of 

 its havoc on the lawTi and farm I will not speak, since it is 

 sufficient for our purposes to state that it is the strawberry's 

 worst foe. 



The best method of circumventing the " varmint " is to 

 learn its ways ; and therefore I shall outline its history, 

 beginning at a period in its being when stupidity predomi- 

 nates over its evil, — that is, when it is the May beetle or 

 June bug, that blunders and bumps around in utter disre- 

 gard of itself and every one else. In this stage it is like the 

 awkward village loafer, quiet by day, but active and obtru- 

 sive in the early evening. It dislikes honest sunshine, but 

 is attracted by artificial light, at which it precipitates itself 

 with the same lack of sense and reason that marks the 

 loafer's gravitation toward a lighted groggery. Moreover, in 

 the beetle phase, it is sure to appear at the most inoppor- 

 tune times and unsuitable places, creating the inevitable 

 commotion which the blunderer and tactless are born to 

 make. As it whisks aimlessly around, it may hit the clergy- 

 man's nose in the most pathetic sentence of his sermon, or 

 drop into the soprano's mouth at the supreme climax of her 

 trill. Satan himself could scarcely produce a more complete 

 absence of devotion than is often caused by these brainless 

 creatures. 



Because quiet by day, they are not out of mischief, as de- 

 foliated trees often prove. As midsummer approaches, they 

 die off; but never until each female beetle has put into the 

 ground about two hundred eggs, which never fail to hatch. 

 The first year, the grubs are little, and, while they do all 

 the harm they can, the small roots they destroy are not se- 

 riously missed by the plants. The second year, their ability 

 keeps pace with their disposition, and they occasionally 



