62 THE PESTS OF THE FAKM. 



our gardens by its abundant excrement filled with the wing-cases 

 of these insects. The beetles may be effectually exterminated by 

 shaking them from the trees every evel -ing. The best time, how- 

 ever, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles are lodged, is in 

 the morning, when the insects do not attempt to fly. They are 

 most easily collected in a cloth spread under the trees to receive 

 them when they fall, after which, they should be thrown into boiling 

 water, to kill them, and may then be given as food to swine. 



MAY-BUG. 



The familiar cock chafer, or May-bug, is the parent of the 

 grub, which is abundant in all pastures or grass fields, especially 

 in soft vegetable soils. The grub is a destructive creature, continu- 

 ing its devastations for a period of three summers before its trans- 

 formation. The roots of all grasses and grains are acceptable, but 

 "the roots of Indian corn furnish a feast from which they will not 

 turn, until disturbed by the crow, who is too often unfairly abused 

 for mischief unknown to him. 



ROSE BUGS. For some time after they were first noticed, rose- 

 bugs appeared to be confined to their favorite, the blossoms of the 

 rose ; but within thirty years they have prodigiously increased in 

 number, have attacked at random various kinds of plants in swarms, 

 and have become notorious for their extensive and deplorable rava- 

 ges. The grape-vine in particular, the cherry, plum, and apple 

 trees, have annually suffered by their depredations ; many other 

 fruit-trees and shrubs, garden vegetables and corn, and even the 

 trees of the forest and the grass of the fields, have been laid under 

 contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, flow- 

 ers, and fruits are alike consumed. They come forth from the 

 ground during the second week in June, and remain from thirty to 

 forty days. At the end of this period the males become exhausted, 

 fall to 'the ground, and perish, while the females enter the earth, 

 lay their eggs, return to the surface, and, after lingering a few days, 

 die also. The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in num- 

 ber, and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the surface 



