Insect Pests and Fungoid Diseases. 415 



after, but if such a dressing is applied at the beginning of winter the land 

 may be safely cropped the following spring and will be found to have bene- 

 fitted in many ways. 



Rape cake dust has been recommended for wireworm. They appear to 

 be fond of it and will leave the young plants for it, but it has no permanent 

 good effect; on the contrary it promotes the rapid development of the 

 wireworms and so increases their ability for mischief, and its presence in 

 the soil probably has the effect of encouraging the beetle to deposit its eggs 

 there, and so the pest is perpetuated. 



Mustard sown and turned in as green manure has not only the effect of 

 improving the fertility of the soil but has been observed distinctly to reduce 

 injury from wireworm. 



Pieces of carrot, mangold, or potato may be used as traps for wire- 

 worm ; they should be buried an inch or so beneath the surface of the 

 soil and frequently examined, when the wireworms they attract may be 

 collected and killed. The beetles may be trapped during May and June by 

 laying bunches of clover or lucerne about the ground and covering them 

 with boards. These serve to attract the beetles, which congregate under- 

 neath to deposit their eggs. The traps should be examined occasionally 

 and the beetles destroyed. When the boards are finally removed, an inch 

 or so of the surface soil underneath should be taken away and burnt, so as 

 to destroy any eggs which may have been deposited there. 



WOODLICE (Oniscus armidillo).Wood\ice, known as "Sow-bugs" 

 and " Slaters," are not often very troublesome to crops in the open-air, but 

 frequently do much mischief in frames to cucumbers or strawberries, in 

 mushroom houses, or in places where rhubarb or seakale is being forced. 

 They feed in the dark and during the daytime hide in crevices in walls, 

 under heaps of dry litter, and in similar places. A favourite lurking place 

 is the space between a bed and the wall or boards, where the soil or manure 

 has shrunk through dryness. 



Treatment: Discover their hiding places and pour boiling water in.* 

 Lay dry hay or moss at the foot of a wall or along the edge of a bed and 

 cover it with a board ; this hiding place will attract many and they can 

 then be destroyed with boiling water. If these measures are followed 

 systematically their numbers will soon be brought within moderate limits. 



Toads are fond of feeding on woodlice, and a few kept in frames or houses 

 where they abound will soon have the effect of considerably reducing their 

 numbers. There are several advertised poisonous compounds which may 

 be tried for killing the pests. 



