148 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. 



notice. It may often be found eating the foliage of plants in the 

 greenhouse, and it should be destroyed whenever seen. Some- 

 times the damage is done by another and larger eurculio ( Otiorhyn- 

 cJius sidcatus) while in its stage of a small white grub. The beetles 

 of both species are active only at night ; in the daj^time they are 

 usually quiet and may be found on the ground or clinging to twigs 

 or the under side of leaves. 



Every summer, in many parts of New England, we hear com- 

 plaints of the destruction of the grass of lawns by the white grubs 

 or larvje, of the May Beetles or June Bugs {Lachnosterna fusca), 

 which live in the soil and eat the roots. Often the grass gets 

 brown in patches, and is found to have all its roots cut away. 

 Eew of the remedies usually recommended can be called con- 

 venient or practicable. 



Experiments conducted at Washington some years ago showed 

 that white grubs of another species {Allorhina ni(ida), having a 

 habit of feeding nearer the surface of the soil, can be destroyed 

 by the use of kerosene emulsion, and the question naturally arises 

 as to Avhether we cannot use it successfully against our local white 

 grubs in small areas, and also against the grubs of Fuller's Rose 

 Beetle. 



Lawns or spots bad!}' infested with white grubs may be liber- 

 ally sprayed witli the prepared kerosene emulsion diluted in tlie 

 proportion of one gallon of the emulsion to from fifteen to twenty 

 gallons of water. After applying the insecticide the ground 

 should be well soaked with water several times, so that some part 

 of the emulsion may be carried farther into the soil. The grubs 

 will be driven from the roots of the grass and will finally die ; the 

 grass will sustain no injury from kerosene in these proportions. 

 Where the grubs of Fuller's Rose Beetle give much trouble, I 

 would recommend that the soil about the roots of the plants be 

 sprayed with the kerosene emulsion, in the proportions given for 

 the White Grub, and that the ground be well soaked with water 

 two or three times. A stirring of the soil before the application 

 would increase its effectiveness. 



In considering means for the control of the White Grub, we 

 ought to pay more attention to the encouragement and protection 

 of animals which help to destroy it. The much-abused skunk is a 

 most valuable ally in lessening the numbers of the pests. Go 

 over a field or pasture where White Grubs are plentiful, and if 

 skunks live in the vicinity, we are sure to find innumerable little 



