AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 93 



brown beetles appear during May and June, and feed at night 

 upon the foliage of various fruit and shade trees. They de- 

 posit small, whitish eggs among the roots of the grass. These 

 eggs hatch into small, brown-headed grubs, that feed upon the 

 roots about them. They continue feeding for two seasons, 

 when the} 7 are full grown and form an oval cell in the soil and 

 change to the pupa state, soon after transforming into beetles. 

 The change to the pupa and beetle states generally occurs in 

 the fall, the beetles remaining in the ground until the following 

 spring, so that they are often turned up during late fall or early 

 spring plowing. 



This insect is one of the most difficult pests to fight of its 

 class. It breeds especially in grass lauds, and often ruins 

 pastures and meadows, while crops planted on sod land are 

 very frequently destroyed. There is much evidence to prove 

 that with high farming aud short rotations its injuries may 

 largely be prevented. The parent beetles may be destroyed 

 by spraying the trees on which they feed with London purple 

 or Paris green. It will often pay, when land infested by these 

 grubs is to be planted to strawberries or other crops which they 

 are liable to injure, to have boys follow the plow and collect 

 the grubs as they appear in the furrow. In this way a large 

 amount of damage can frequently be prevented at very slight 

 expense. The grubs in infested meadows may be destroyed 

 by turning swine in the field. 



a. 



Fig. 3. The Cabbage Root Maggot; a, larva; 6, pupa; c, fly, magnified. 



Much injury was done during spring and early summer by 

 the cabbage root maggot 1 — one of the most vexatious enemies 

 of the gardener. The adult (Fig. 3 c) is a small, two-winged fly, 



1 Anthomyia brassicae. 



