Strawberries. 235 



In close, wet weather, the fruit and leaf-stalks will sometimes suffer 

 from mildew ; and occasionally a microscopic fungi, known as the straw- 

 berry brand, will attack the foliage. I have also seen, in a few instances, 

 a disease that resembled the curl-leaf in raspberries. The plants were 

 dwarfed, foliage wrinkled and rusty, and fruit misshapen, like small, gnarly 

 apples. In all such instances I believe in tonic treatment, of wood 

 ashes, bone dust, guano, and fertilizers of like nature, used with care. 

 Plants do not need over-doses or over-feeding any more than we do 

 ourselves. When a few plants are diseased, I believe in rigorously rooting 

 them out and burning them. If a field is affected, as soon as possible turn 

 the plants under, and renovate the land with clover, buckwheat, a light 

 dressing of lime, and thorough exposure to the air, light and frost. By 

 such methods, and a wise selection of fertilizers, I believe that strawberries 

 can be raised on the same ground for centuries. My plants have always 

 been exceptionally free from all kinds of disease or rust, and I attribute it 

 to the liberal use of wood ashes. 



But there is one enemy that inspires me with fear and unmingled 

 disgust. It is the type of a certain phase of character in society most 

 difficult to deal with, and which the mantle of charity is rarely broad enough 

 to cover the stupidly and stolidly malignant, who have just sense enough 

 to do a great deal of mischief, and to keep it hidden until too late for 

 remedy. Science has dignified the detestable thing with a sonorous name, 

 as usual the Lachnosterna Fusca ; already referred to. It does not 

 deserve even its name in the common vernacular White Grub ; for, its 

 white is of a dingy hue, and its head dark, like its deeds. Has it a redeem- 

 ing trait ? " Give the de'il his due," says the proverb. The best I can say 

 of the white grub is, that crows, and an odorous animal I forbear to name, 

 are very fond of it. This fact, I think, is its sole virtue, its one entry on 

 the credit side ; but there is a long, dark score against it. Of its havoc 

 on the lawn and farm I will not speak, since it is sufficient for our pur- 

 poses to state that it is the strawberry's worst foe. 



The best method of circumventing the " varmint " is to learn its 

 ways ; and, therefore, I shall outline its history, beginning at a period in its 

 being when stupidity predominates over its evil that is, when it is the 

 May beetle or June bug, that blunders and bumps around in utter disre- 

 gard of itself and every one else. In this stage it is like the awkward 

 village loafer, quiet by day, but active and obtrusive in the early evening. 

 It dislikes honest sunshine, but is attracted by artificial light, at 

 which it precipitates itself with the same lack of sense and reason that 

 marks the loafer's gravitation toward a lighted groggery. Moreover, in 



