134 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



a frosty winter did good service in ridding them of the 

 grub ; but it was to be remarked that there had been very 

 severe frosts in some of our recent winters that of 1860, 

 for example. Snowy winters were also said to kill the 

 grub. As to the truth of this he could not vouch ; but it 

 was the fact that our winters lately had been pretty free of 

 snow, so that this notion was so far supported." 



We now proceed to the consideration of the practical 

 points connected with the modes of best meeting or prevent- 

 ing the ravages of this scourge of the farm. Much has 

 been written upon this important subject descriptive of the 

 attempts which have been made from time to time to pre- 

 vent the ravages of the grub ; so much, indeed, that the 

 space of one of our volumes would not suffice to do justice 

 to even the most rapid of resumes of it. We can therefore 

 find space to glance merely at what has been most recently 

 expounded in connection with the subject. At a recent 

 meeting of the Fettercairn Farmers' Club, Mr. Scroggie 

 stated what appears to us to be the true mode of dealing 

 with this scourge namely, in the preparation of the soil 

 for the sowing of the seed; that it is not in the after-ap- 

 plications to it, as top-dressings of this or that manure, nor 

 in the preparation of the seed, as in the case of wheat, but 

 in this, and this only, the preparation of the soil The 

 habits of the grub lead us inevitably to conclude that the 

 proper condition of the soil seems to be best brought about 

 by attention to two things first, by burying the surface 

 of the lea ; and, second, by well rolling and consolidating 

 the ground. The one without the other will not suffice, 

 more especially the mere rolling, inasmuch as, if the grub 

 gets fairly possession of the soil, no amount of rolling seems 

 to have any effect upon its vitality. But by burying the 

 surface of the lea we bury also the eggs, and exclude them 

 from the adjuncts necessary to bring them into life the 

 air, the heat, and the light; and then by rolling we con- 

 solidate the ground, and prevent the newly-hatched insects 

 from "burrowing in search of food." The modes, how 

 ever, of burying the surface of the lea, and, by consequence, 



