THE CLOVERS 277 



feed on the leaves and reach maturity in May or June. The 

 adult beetles also feed upon the leaves and stems of the clover. 

 Fortunately, these destructive insects are largely held in check 

 by a fungus which grows upon their bodies, causing death. 

 If not held in check by the fungus, they may be controlled to 

 some extent by plowing the field soon after the removal of the 

 hay crop. All kinds of clovers are more or less affected by the 

 leaf weevil, but it prefers the red and white clovers to the alsike. 

 280. The clover-seed midge. Low yields of clover seed 

 are quite frequently due to the clover-seed midge. The adult 

 is a little fly, smaller than a mosquito, which lays its eggs beneath 

 the glumes of the clover head. The larvae when they hatch 

 burrow into the flower and eat the developing seed. There 

 are usually two broods each year, the larvae from the first brood 

 becoming full grown about the time red clover is ready to cut 

 for hay. The second brood feeds on the second growth, the one 

 usually cut for seed, and may be so numerous as to destroy the 

 seed crop. The best means of controlling the insects is to remove 

 the hay crop rather early, allowing the second crop to appear 

 before the second brood of midges come on. By this means large 

 yields of seed may be had, whereas if the hay is cut at the usual 

 time, the insects may greatly reduce the seed crop. Red and 

 mammoth clovers are most greatly affected by the midge. 



