172 AGRICULTURE 



5. The Enemies of Red Clover 



In the starting of the clover crop, the two principal ene- 

 mies to be encountered are drought and hard winters. A 

 stand not infrequently fails from one or the other of these 

 natural causes, which can not be guarded against, except to 

 sow the crop at proper times, and according to proper meth- 

 ods of seeding. Red clover is so valuable, however, that 

 an occasional failure to secure a stand should only spur 

 the farmer to try for better success. 



Insect enemies. Various insects seem to find red 

 clover highly palatable, and hence feed upon it. Yet only 

 a few of these do the crop any great damage. 



One of the worst of these pests is a small species of 

 beetle known as the clover root-borer. This beetle is of a 

 brownish color, and grows about one-sixth of an inclj in 

 length. The larvae of this insect attack the roots of the 

 clover, usually during the second year of the crop. They 

 have done the most damage in regions east of the Missis- 

 sippi River, especially in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. The 

 only remedy so far found is to plow the damaged field as 

 soon as the hay is removed. The larvae are then without 

 food and soon die, leaving the field free of their kind for 

 a future crop. 



The seed-bearing qualities of red clover are often seri- 

 ously damaged by the clover-seed chalcis fly. This is an 

 insect shaped like a wasp, and about the size of a seed of 

 red clover. Just before the clover seed begins to harden 

 this fly lays its eggs in the growing seed. As the larvae 

 develop they use the seed for food, entirely destroying it by 

 the time they secure their growth. The chalcis fly is respon- 

 sible for much of the poor yield of clover seed. It is one 

 of the worst clover crop pests in the United States. It is 

 thought that light pasturing in the early spring, or even 



