REMEDIES. 287 



the approach of the grub by mixing a tea-spoonful of sul- 

 phur in the soil just beneath a plant, when setting it out. 

 Mr. Peter B. Mead recommends the pomace of the castor 

 bean spread on the surface around the plants. I have never 

 tried these preventives. One thing certainly might be done ; 

 exterminating war might be waged on the beetles. In 

 the morning they are sluggish and easily caught; and in 

 the evening we can treat them as whiskey venders do the 

 loafers, — burn them up. " Every female beetle killed heads 

 off 200 grubs." If one could discover a complete remedy 

 for this pest, he would deserve a statue in bronze. Mr. 

 Fuller had a domesticated crow that would eat a hundred 

 of these grubs daily. *' When domesticated," he adds, " the 

 crow forgets the tricks of his wild nature, and, not being a 

 timid bird, he is not frightened by hoe or spade, but when 

 the earth is turned over, is generally there to see and do his 

 duty." 



x\ fruit grower writes to Professor C. V. Riley : " I inclose 

 specimens of a terrible pest on my strawberry vines. The 

 leaves are almost entirely destroyed. I must fight them 

 some way, or else give up the fruit entirely," etc. In a let- 

 ter to the " New York Tribune," Professor Riley replied : 



" The insect referred to is the Strawberry Worm {Emphytus 

 maculatus)^ the larva of a saw-fly, which is of quite frequent 

 occurrence in the West. I quote the following account of it 

 from my Ninth Report : — 



*' ' Early in the spring numerous flies may be seen hanging 

 to and flying about the vines in fields which have been previ- 

 ously affected. They are dull and inactive in the cool of the 

 morning and evening, and at these hours are seldom noticed. 

 They are of a pitchy black color, with two rows of large, trans- 

 verse, dull, whitish spots upon the abdomen. The female, with 

 the saw-like instrument peculiar to the insects of this family, 

 .deposits her eggs, by a most curious and interesting process, in 



