332 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



Fort Collins a badly infested field of sugar-beets was also 

 seriously damaged. 



No practical means for controlling these pests seems to have 

 been recorded, so that in case of injury the entomologist of the 

 State should be consulted. 



White Grubs, Wireworms, and Cutworms 



Fortunately for the sugar-beet farmer the worst insect ene- 

 mies of that plant feed upon the tops, and very rarely do we hear 

 of serious damage being done the roots. In the East most of the 

 damage to the roots is done by those familiar old farm-thieves, the 

 white grub, the cutworm and the wireworm. As a general rule 

 they will l)c found to be worse on lands previously in sod, which 

 should therefore be avoided when known to be badly infested with 

 either of these insects, as both are difficult to fight after they have 

 once commenced doing noticeable injury. 



The life histories and means of control for these pests will be 

 found discussed on pages 79, 84, 85. 



The Sugar-beet Webworm * 



The sugar-beet webworm is very similar to the garden web- 

 worm (page 406), and is so named because it has developed as a 

 serious pest of the sugar-beet in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

 It has been noted as injuring tansy in Michigan, and feeds on 

 cabbage, onions, and alfalfa, as well as pigweed (Chenopodium 

 album) and careless weed (Amaranthus) and will probably feed 

 on many other crops. It is a native of western and central 

 Europe, and northern Asia, and was evidently introduced on the 

 Pacific Coast, as it was noted in Utah in 1869. 



The moth is larger than the garden webworm, having a wing 

 expanse of an inch, and is a purplish-brown color with darker 

 and paler bands as shown in Fig. 239. The full-grown larva is 

 about an inch long, of a dark color with a white stripe down the 



* Loxostege sticticalis Linn. Family Pyraustidce. See C. P. Gillette, 

 Bulletin 98, Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta., and references there given. 



