INJURIOUS INSECTS. 325 



frequently so alarmingly great, and their mischief so wide spread 

 and extensive, we can only hope to ward off their ravages iu 

 our pastures and meadows by wholesale remedies. So soon as 

 the meadow turns sear, and we have the further evidence that 

 the white grub is the culprit in the grass, now rootless, freely 

 yielding to the hand or rake ; or, still better, finding the sleek 

 old gormand beneath by a little digging if this state of things 

 is so extensive as to create uneasiness, the field better be given 

 over at once to the swine, and the more swine the better. It 

 may be as profitable to turn the grass into pork, indirectly 

 through the aid of the white grub, as to change it directly into 

 beef or mutton ; besides, we then are sure to destroy a grievous 

 pest. If a meadow is the seat of the evil, it may pay best to 

 cut the hay first. Early fall plowing will enable the birds to 

 aid the swine, and possibly kill the grubs by destroying their 

 food. Frequent harrowing will give the birds a still better 

 chance to indulge in this " feast of fat things." 



In protecting our wheat and corn, the same remedies would 

 apply as those recommended to destroy the cut-worm. 



As yet, we know no method to fight these pests of our 

 meadows, except the one given above; and if the ravages ap- 

 pear while the grub is in the first or second year's operation, 

 which can be ascertained by the size, the above method of pro- 

 cedure will be still more desirable. 



These white grubs often do great damage to strawberry plan- 

 tations. Strawberries should not be planted immediately after 

 turning the sod, nor left to be matted down with grass. If 

 planted on land which has been kept clean of weeds, etc., by 

 hoeing, there will be little loss from these grubs. 



The Wheat Midge. Cccidomyia tritici, Kirb. Family, 

 Cecidomyidce. Order, Dipt era. Like its near relative, the Hes- 

 sian fly (Cecidomyia destructor], the midge, or wheat berry fly, is 

 not yet driven from among us, though UK many insect enemies 

 have so depleted its numbers, that it no longer fills our agricul- 

 turists with forebodings as to the future of our wheat interests. 



NATURAL HISTORY. The natural history of the midge is as 

 follows : The little orange fly, so small as to almost escape 



