270 How THE FARM PAYS. 



when they are loaded with the newly set fruit. No remedy seems to 

 be completely effective against them. We have found the best remedy 

 to dig the worms out of the soft soil around the plants, where they 

 harbor in the day-time. All surface applications are unavailing. 

 For large fields it seems to be the best way to plant thickly, so that 

 enough may be left after the cut worm has been satisfied. There is 

 a common belief that when the hot weather of July comes, the cut 

 worms burst with the heat and die. This should be seen at first 

 sight to be a mistake, for Nature never works in such a useless 

 manner as that. These worms are the larvse of various species of 

 moths, and about July they change into the pupa or chrysalis stage, 

 and become dormant for a time until they emerge as full grown moths. 



WHITE GRUBS. 



These insects, which are the larvse of the May Beetle or June Bug, 

 a large brown insect, which comes into houses in the evenings of 

 early summer, do great mischief to crops. They devour the roots of 

 grass during mild weather in the winter, and in fall and spring; they 

 also eat the roots of strawberries, corn, cabbage and other vegetables, 

 when they are half grown, and stop the growth. They are particularly 

 destructive to potatoes at times, and scoop out the flesh, making 

 large cavities in the tubers, or even leaving mere useless shells. The 

 beetles devour the leaves of the grape vine and the Virginia Creeper. 

 Another beetle, similar in shape and size, but having black spots on 

 the wing covers, is equally destructive in its larva and mature stage, 

 as the May beetle, and in the same ways. Late fall plowing exposes 

 these grubs to their enemies crows and skunks chiefly which 

 devour them in large quantities. Clean culture and thorough culti- 

 vation of the soil tend very much to keep these pests in subjection. 



WIRE WORMS. 



A hard, wiry, brown worm, which is not an insect, but belongs to 

 the family of myriapods, or " thousand legs, " and commonly called 

 wire worm, is a great pest, especially to the potato grower. Although 

 there may be some doubt still remaining, yet there is abundant reason 

 for believing that the scabby appearance of potatoes which makes 

 them unsalable is due to the attacks of this worm, which gnaws the 

 skin and causes the rough scabs. This worm is exceedingly injurious 

 to wheat and grass, and also to strawberries, eating the roots and the 

 fruits which rest upon the ground. So far as potatoes are concerned, 



