70 REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I92I 



July 17, 1920, by H. W. Fitch, assistant manager of the Albany 

 county farm bureau. He stated that these pests had seriously dam- 

 aged one corn field of 5 acres, destroying another of about one-third 

 of an acre and causing a 50 per cent loss on another ii-acre farm, 

 all in the vicinity of Albany. The pests were so numerous on the 

 farm of Charles Adams at Berne as to destroy all the plants for 

 several rods and the owner stated that the plants might be killed 

 overnight. Specimens submitted for examination showed the work 

 of the wireworms at the very base of the plant and the destruction 

 overnight, as mentioned above, could be caused by these insects 

 only through practically destroying the bulb and thus causing the 

 upper part of the plant to shrivel from lack of nourishment. 



Another species of wireworm, Drasterius elegans 

 Fabr., was submitted for identification by Mr Fitch May 20th, 

 accompanied by the statement that two to three or four were at 

 work upon recently set cabbage plants on the outskirts of Albany. 

 An examination of the infested field showed that comparatively few 

 plants were affected and that most of the damage was restricted to 

 a lighter ridge. The owner, John Lawton, stated that this ground 

 had been in continuous cultivation for some 16 years, two and 

 three crops being obtained annually and that at no time was it 

 allowed to become weedy. There appeared to be nothing in the 

 way of manurial applications which would tend to increase the 

 infestation and in view of the fact that such reports had been 

 received from this general area from year to year, it appears prob- 

 able that this and perhaps other wireworms may successfully main- 

 tain themselves in land under continuous cultivation, although these 

 insects are commonly regarded as grass-feeding pests, only occasion- 

 ally present in cultivated soil. This is further supported by the 

 statement of Mr Lawton to the effect that dock plants were very 

 likely to have a number of wireworms about their roots. 



Mr Lawton added that ordinarily there was not serious injury 

 and that the damage was particularly great in cold wet springs 

 when the development of the plants was slow. It was his opinion, 

 furthermore, that good cultivation was one of the best methods of 

 enabling the young plants to outgrow injuries by these pests. It 

 was suggested in case the injury was sufficient to justify the pre- 

 caution, that it might be well to forestall damage by providing the 

 wireworms with some cheap, relatively valueless food, such as a row 

 or two of oats or rye between the transplants and located so that 

 this temporary crop could be up-rooted with a horse-drawn 

 implement. 



