FOECIHG HOUSES INSECT EHEMIES. 43 



FOKCLNG HOUSES. 



Almost any ordinary greenhouse may be used as a 

 forcing house for the Strawberry, provided it is so con- 

 structed that the plants can be placed near the glass. 

 If the plants are placed several feet below the roof or 

 glass, they are likely to be drawn, as it is termed, the 

 leaves and fruit-stalks growing tall and slender. Low 

 houses are, therefore, better for this purpose than high 

 ones, and even low-walled pits, heated by brick flues or 

 earthern pipes, answer well for forcing the Strawberry. 



INSECT EKEMIES. 



Until within the past decade or two the Strawberry 

 was rarely injured at least not to any extent by either 

 insect or disease. But as its cultivation is extended it 

 naturally encounters a greater number of enemies. Prob- 

 ably the most destructive pest is known under the com- 

 mon name of White Grub, or larva of the May Beetle. 

 There are, however, over sixty distinct species of the May 

 Beetle inhabiting the United States, but, as their habits 

 are very nearly the same, they may for all practical pur- 

 poses be considered as one. There is scarcely a mile 

 square of good arable land in the United States that will 

 not yield to the careful collector at least a half dozen 

 species of Lachnosterna or May Beetles. They are more 

 or less abundant in the Gulf States, and northward to 

 Canada; thence westward to California and along the en- 

 tire Pacific coast. These insects are usually more abun- 

 dant in grass-lands, prairies, meadows and pastures than 

 elsewhere, as the principal food of the grubs is the roots 

 of grass and small herbs like the Strawberry. They 

 sometimes become so abundant in meadows and pastures 

 that, if such land is plowed up and planted with Straw- 



