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THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



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Description of Plate. — a, Calandra granaria, granary weevil, magnified. 6, The same, natural 

 eize. c, One of the mandibles, or jaws, d, The antennae, or horn, e, The maxilla. /, Calandra 

 oryzce, rice weevil, magnified, g, The same, natural size, h, Bruchus granarius, (another species of 

 grain weevil,) walking in outline, natural size, i, The same magnified. _;, Bruchus pisi, common 

 pea weevil, magnified. 



rarely seen in the northern. Its powers of increase are very great, for it is stated that 

 a single pair may produce above six thousand descendants in one year. From the laying 

 of the eggs to the development of the perfect insect in warm weather, only some three 

 or four weeks intervene. The female deposits her eggs on the wheat after it is housed, 

 and the young grubs hatched therefrom immediately burrow in the wheat, each grub 

 occupying alone a grain, the substance of which it eats, and frequently so as to leave 

 nothing but the hull. At the south it is the practice to sun wheat to destroy the 

 weevil, and large bins are made for the purpose. In Europe grain is kiln-dried for the 

 same purpose. A heat of 130® destroys the insect ; -and the same is true of pea-weevils. 



Rice is attacked by a weevil closely resembling the wheat-weevil ; it is called Calan- 

 dra oryzce. It is distinguished from the wheat-weevil by having two large red spots on 

 each wing-cover ; it is also somewhat smaller, measuring only about one-tenth of an 

 inch, exclusive of its snout. This insect feeds on maize and wheat as well as on rice. 

 It is called the black weevil to distinguish it from the wheat insect. 



The pea-weevil [Bruchus pisi) abounds in nearly all the States ; but from some cause, 

 perhaps coldness of the climate, it does not seem to flourish in Canada. Hence many 

 farmers in New York, Western Pennsylvania, and Ohio, obtain their seed-peas from the 

 Provinces, which are entirely free from the insect. All leguminous or pod-plants are 

 attacked by this Bruchus family, such as beans, Glediisia, Bobinia, Mimosa, Cassia, 

 &c. The female wounds, by an incision, the skin of the young and tender pods of 

 plants, and lays an egg singly in each wound. 



Perfect weevils come out in the spring, earlier or later, according to the climate, but 

 always in season to propagate a new generation when peas are in blossom and forming 

 their pods. The safest way to escape the ravages of this depredator is to keep seed-peas 

 over one summer. If all the farmers of a county or State would do this regularly, the 

 insect would soon cease to annoy them. 



Putting camphor in tight boxes or casks, in which peas are stored that contain the 

 young of the insect, will kill them by its offensive pungency. This is an excellent 

 remedy for other insects, such as moths, which attack clothes in chests and drawers. 



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