THE STRAWBERRY JUNE 1907 



acre. This is my new kind which is storm 

 proof and a great producer. I crossed seed 

 from India and other foreign countries, 

 and these seeds are worth their weight in 

 gold. 



'I have sixteen acres of alfalfa which ] 

 cut five times every year, besides I pasture 

 it with a hundred head of hogs and about 

 fifty head of cattle and horses. I find al- 

 falfa a most valuable hay, and it would be 



almost impossible to get along without it. 

 "I think American farmers should be 

 very happy and contented, but they are 

 not always so, because we all have an idea 

 that town life is more attractive, and many 

 learn their mistake when it is too late. 

 As for me, I prefer the farm, and I man- 

 age to make it pay by strict application 

 and hard work. The farm is where one 

 can find real pleasure and solid comfort. 



Insects in the Strawberry Field 



And How to Deal With Them 



By R. L. Adams 



WE present herewith the second 

 instalment of Mr. Adams' in- 

 forming article dealing with in- 

 sects that attack the strawberry and the 

 preventives and remedies that horticultural 

 experience has suggested up to this time. 

 We repeat what was said in introducing 

 the first instalment, that the numbers of 

 this magazine containing the series should 

 be preserved for future reference by our 

 readers. Remember, that many of the 

 insects mentioned appear only in particu- 

 lar sections of the country, and that many 

 others attack the strawberry very rarely. 

 The insects first to be considered this 

 month are the 



Insects That Attack the Crowns and Large 

 Roots 



1. The strawberry crown borer ( Tyto- 

 derma fragariae) is of widespread impor- 

 tance, the damage being done by a small, 

 white footless grub, one-fifth of an inch 

 long, with a hard yellow head. He hatches 

 from an egg laid at the base of a leaf on 

 the crown by a snout beetle belonging to 

 the curculio family. The beetles appear 

 in June, are one-sixth inch in length, and 

 brown in color, with indistinct markings 

 of a darker shade. They cannot fly and 

 so spread slowly. One egg is laid on the 

 crown and the grub on hatching bores 

 downward, tunnelling and excavating in 

 all directions. The change to a pupa is 

 made in one of the numerous passages, 

 the adult beetle emerging any time from 

 August to October. These beetles pass 

 the winter hibernating in the fields. 



Remedies — Being worse in old stawberry 

 fields, the best method is to plow up old 

 run-out ones in June or July after fruiting 

 and plant some other crop, confining the 

 berries to land that has not been used for 

 that purpose for some time. The plants 

 must be pulled before the beetles emerge 

 and destroyed. Spraying and burning oxer 

 will kill the adults. 



2. The second crown borer or so- 

 called "strawberry root borer" or crown 

 miner (Aiiarsia lineatclla) is a reddish-pink 

 caterpillar, one-half inch long, covered with 

 reddish dots from each of which a hair 

 arises. This caterpillar works inside the 

 crown and larger roots, making numerous 

 passages. 



The egg is laid on the crown in late 



July or August by a small, dark gray moth 

 with a wing expanse of one-half inch, and 

 marked with brownish-black spots on the 

 fore-wings. The caterpillars feed through- 

 out the summer and then hibernate in 

 the channels. Early in July they change 

 to reddish brown pupw in rubbish or de- 

 caying leaves, appearing a couple of weeks 

 later as the adult moths. 



Remedies — Dusting with lime or wood 

 ashes is said to be helpful, but there is no 

 practical method to get rid of them except 

 to pull and burn the bed while the cater- 

 pillars are in the crowns, resetting the bed 

 with clean stock. 



Insects That Attack the Leaves 



1 . The leaf \o\\iix(Phoxoptera comptana) 

 is probably the worst insect attacking the 

 foliage. The damage is done by brown- 

 ish caterpillars which roll the leaves into 

 cases, fasten them with silken threads and 

 feed on the pulpy part of the leaf inside 

 the shelter thus formed. This causes a 

 withering and part discoloration of the 

 foliage. 



When full grown the caterpillars are 

 one-third inch long and vary in color from 

 brownish to greenish. They are sparsely 

 clothed with hair and have a brownish 

 jellow head. 



The eggs hatch in June, after having 

 been laid a few days, and the caterpillars 

 become mature later the same month, 

 appearing as adult moths in July, when 

 the eggs are laid for a second brood which 

 appears the same season. 



The second brood attain their growth 

 by the last of September and enter into 

 the pupa stage, remaining thus until the 

 following spring, when they emerge as 

 delicate, reddish-brown moths, marked 

 with white streaks and dots, and having a 

 wing expanse of about one-half inch. 

 These lay the eggs for the early brood. 

 This insect occurs over nearly all the 

 United States and there are three and 

 perhaps four broods in the South. 



Remedies — Spraying with hellebore, 

 Paris green or disparene is a preventive. 

 If the caterpillars have curled the leaves 

 they are beyond reach of poison, but a 

 good spraying will help the second brood. 

 Another method is to mow the leaves 

 and burn them, or the plantation may be 



Page 143 



plowed under and replanted with clean 

 stock. 



2. The smeared dagger (Apatela obli- 

 nila) has similar habits and yields to the 

 same treatment as the leaf roller. Instead 

 of tying one leaf they fasten three or four 

 terminal ones together. 



The moth has plain gray forewings 

 marked with a black criss-cross line and 

 white hind wings. 



The larva is a beauty, one and one- 

 fourth inch long, deep velvet black with 

 bright red tubercles, from each of which 

 rises a tuft of hair, those on the back red 

 and those beneath yellow. There are 

 two rows of yellow spots down the back 

 and a number of white dots placed irreg- 

 ularly. Once seen it is not likely to be 

 forgotten. 



3. Another leaf roller is luropsis per- 

 miuidana which binds several leaves and 

 berries together, eating the whole ball. 



The moth has variable yellow-brown 

 forewings with oblique cross marks and 

 light brown hind wings. 



The larva is green with a black head 

 and is one-half inch long when full grown. 

 It feeds until the last of June when it 

 pupates, appearing in a few days as the 

 perfect moth. 



Remedies — Dust the plants with lime 

 or ashes or spray with stomach poisons. 



4. Cornell University has discovered 

 another leaf-roller which has been called 

 the oblique banded strawberiy-leaf roller 

 {Ciicaecia ohsoletatui) which is oli\e green 

 when mature, while the moth is various 

 shades of brown, marked with darker wavy 

 lines and a broad band, broken in the 

 middle. 



The life-history is similar to that of the 

 first leaf roller and it will succumb to the 

 same treatment. 



5. Young plantations especially are 

 subject to the attacks of the strawberry 

 slug or sawfly (Em[>hytus maeu/atiis), a 

 member of the Hymenoptera, and not 

 Lepidoptera, the order to which the pre- 

 vious four belong. 



The insect causing the trouble in this 

 case is a four-winged black sawfly with 

 brown legs and two rows of white spots 



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Write to Mr. A. L, Rice, Manufacturer, 613 North 8t., 

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