1S37] 



FARM E R S' R E (I I S T JO R. 



227 



The bugs occur on flowers, on various plants, 

 and on tlie <xrasses ; and deposite their eggs near 

 the roots uf plants, wiiere they find their way rea- 

 dily into the ground, and there; remain in the larv;c 

 slate lor a longer or sliorter time according to the 

 S()ecies, preying on the roots of such plants as 

 constitute their Ibod. It is in this state that the)' 

 do the mischief which renders them such a pestio 

 the farmer. The clater a[)|)ears partial to grass 

 lands, and hence such are the most inli^sted hythe 

 larvcP. It is on newly turned pasture or meadow 

 land, that crops ot corn or grain are the most liable 

 to suffer. 



According to Wilson, the name of wire worm. 

 bestowed on the iarv;B of several species of ela- 

 ters, is more specihcally applicable to that of the 

 calaphagus Uncatus of Stephens. lis habits have 

 been carefully examined by Mr. Bierkander of 

 Sweden, who calls it the root worm. " The body 

 is very narrow, of a yellow color, hard, smooth 

 and shining, and composed of twelve segments, on 

 the last of which are two indented dark colored 

 specks. Tlie head is brown, the extremity of the 

 jaws black. It is said to remain five j'ears in the 

 larvae state, from which it issues as an elater, the 

 £!. segctis of Bierkander, synonymous with the 

 £. lineatus of Linnesus, and the insect above 

 named of Stephens." The anterior segments 

 have six tijet, and with the aid of these and lis 

 scaly head, it burrows in the ground with great 

 rapidity. 



Great damage is often occasioned by the wire 

 worm to the turnip crops in England, fiuniers be- 

 ing sometimes compelled to sow their land as ma- 

 ny as two or three times, the first plants being 

 entirely devoured. " In the year 1813, according 

 to Mr. Spence, this larvae destroyed the greater 

 proportion of the annuals sown in the botanic gar- 

 den of Hull. In such cases. Sir Joseph Banks 

 recommended that pieces of potatoes, stuck on 

 sharpened sticks, should be placed in the ground 

 near the seeds, and examined and cleared of the 

 wire worms that would adhere to and leed npon 

 them from time to time." The lavee of the £J. 

 striatas attacks the roots of wheat, and like those 

 of the other species where they abound, are in 

 some seasons productive of immense danger to 

 the farmer. 



In this country, the only one known to produce 

 eerious injury, is the Iarva3 ot" the U. linetitns, and 

 the damage has hitherto been principally confined 

 to corn, a crop scarcely known in England, and of 

 course never taken into account when speaking of 

 the insect. As the culture of the roots extend, its 

 depredations in that way may attract attention, 

 but now it is hardly known, except in connexion 

 with grass or corn, and here it is frequently terri- 

 bly destructive. In dry seasons we have seen 

 large portions of pastures or meadow land, the 

 turf of which loosened by the roots, being cntirelv 

 cut off, might be rolled up like a carpet, in pieces 

 of any required size, and the numbers of the worm 

 collected m such places, was such as to defy cal- 

 culation. Corn it attacks as soon as it is put into 

 the ground, or begins to swell and sprout, and 

 rarely leaves a plant till it dies, when it shifts to a 

 new and fresh one. A friend of ours last year 

 turned over a piece of meadow land, rolled it 

 smooth, and planted it with corn. It was soon as- 

 sailed by the worm, and in a few days plats of se- 

 veral rods s(|uare were entirely destroyed ; while 



tjie whole piece was more or less injured. In 

 some of the hills of corn, as man}' as twenty or 

 twenty-five worms could be Ibund at once, preying 

 on the roots, penetrating the stalk below the sur- 

 face of (he ground, and thus, in both ways, rapid- 

 ly exhausting the vital juices. As the ground 

 was very rich, and the small quantity that grew 

 the last year would have had no eflcctiii exhaust- 

 ini; the soil, after receiving a thorough ploughincr, 

 the land has been again planted, but present ap- 

 near:\nces indicate no better success than before. 

 Tlie hills are already flill of worms, and. in many 

 instances, examination shows that each root or 

 shoot as last as ihey appear, are totally demol- 

 ished. 



Tlie wire worm is the most difficult to destroy of 

 any insect the farmer is called to encounter. — 

 Deep in the earth among the roots on which he 

 preys, carelidly avoiding all approach to the sur- 

 face, or exposure to the light, possessing the pow- 

 er of moving with the necessary rapidity in the 

 loosened soil, he is rarely noticed, or his presence 

 delected, except by the ravages he commits. The 

 cut worm, with which the wire worm is by some 

 confounded, is sometimes very destructive, but his 

 operations are carried on above ground, and he is 

 easily detected and despatched. Clumsy in hi.=i 

 movements, and penetrating the earth with diffi- 

 culty, the cutworm is very unlike ihe smooth wire 

 Vv'orm, which, when brought to the surfiice, again 

 buries himself almost instantly. The cut worm 

 undergoes his transformation, it is believed, with- 

 in the year; the wire worm continues in his de- 

 structive state, for (bur or five years. Various ap- 

 plications have been recommended to destroy or 

 ilriveaway this voracious depredator; but little 

 reliance can be placed on any we have seen tried, 

 that would not destroy the plants also. For our- 

 selves, we should place the most dependence on 

 ploughing, late in the lidl, the land intended to be 

 cultivated the ensuing year. Afler the wire worm 

 has committed his summer's eating, as the cold 

 weather comes on, he becomes torpid, and remains 

 in this state tdl spring. If while in this state, he 

 is thrown out of the ground, where he is exposed 

 to the severe frosts and vicissitudes of the season, 

 he must perish ; and this exposure is more surely 

 effected by ploughing late in the fall than in any 

 other way. 



UTILITY OF tilllE IN PRESERVING FENCE 

 POSTS. 



Accident in some instances, has led to the dis- 

 covery that lime, applied to wood, preserves it 

 ll-om decay. The wliitewashmg ofltinces is prac- 

 lisi'd, more as a substitute for paint, anil tor ap- 

 pearance sake, than to prevent decay. Even this 

 superficial mode of applying lime, is of some use 

 in preserving wood. Having liill confidence in 

 the efficacy of lime, as a preservation of wood, to 

 make fence posts less subject to rot, I have this 

 season, for the first time, used it as follows: I 

 provided a number of narrow boards, about three 

 icet long of various breadths, and one inch thick, 

 with a hole in the end of each. When the hole 

 in the ground was ready for the reception of the 

 post, some lime was put into it; on this lime the 

 post was placed ; some of the narrow boards were 

 then selected and placed to and around the post in 

 the hole. The jiround was then rammed into the 



