114 PEAS. 



attack. This point is well worth notice, whether it might be from the 

 brunt of the attack being past, or circumstances of plant-vigour pushing 

 the plant-growth into safety. Mr. J. C. Smith wrote as follows : — " In 

 reply to yours as to the Pea Beetles, I am sorry to find that I cannot 

 hear of any of the various remedies that were tried last spring being of 

 any practical use. 



" Wherever they appeared thickly on a field, this was almost always 

 completely spoilt. In my own case I did not plough the remains of 

 the crop up until about the 12th of May, thinking that, as the Peas 

 were a late variety, and a very strong growing sort (Telegraph), when 

 the beetles left them, the stumps, which looked very green, would 

 shoot again ; but it was no use whatever. On May 16th I re-sowed 

 the same ground with Peas, and these also the beetles began, but they 

 grew so vigorously, that with the last crop the conditions were reversed, 

 and the Peas gained the day. The beetles are so hard that rolling the 

 land is of no use. 



" In this neighbourhood I might safely say 1000 acres were seriously 

 damaged, if not utterly spoiled. One field close by was sown three times, 

 and every time eaten up." — (J. A. S.) 



The following observation, by Mr. Thornley, from Eadford Hall, 

 Leamington, of the beneficial effect of dressing with nitrate of soda 

 and soot, is almost the only note of successful remedial application, and 

 here (conjecturally) a good deal of the benefit would be from driving 

 on a good growth, besides what protection might be given by the soot 

 to the leafage. Mr. Thornley, in reply to my enquiry, wrote me : — 

 " The most effectual remedy I found for the Pea Weevils last spring 

 was small and repeated dressings of soot and nitrate of soda, applied 

 in the early mornings when the dew was on the leaf. One piece of 

 five acres of Prince of Wales Pea I dressed just as the Pea was making 

 its appearance ; then repeated the dressing in a week's time when well 

 through in rows. That was my best crop by far. My opinion is the 

 remedy should be applied before the weevils make their appearance." 



In another communication (sent me from Sandy, Beds.), the writer 

 also mentioned that he " did not find any benefit from dressing with 

 soot the piece of winter Beans which was infested with Sitones lineatm. 

 The plot was sown in late autumn, and was much more seriously 

 damaged than one adjoining, which was sown in the spring." 



Looking now over the reports of the past season and previous 

 years, they all appear to point to any " remedies " — that is, any mea- 

 sures specially directed to getting rid of the weevils when once they 

 are on the plants — being of little or no good. Dressings of soot, or soot 

 and lime, applied when the dew is on, may be expected to be of use in 

 garden service, where they can be given with minute care and in very 

 liberal amount. But this is very different to a paying field application 

 where the material is costly, and also it would disturb farm service to 



