/© NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The loss on the potato crop where planting was upon badly infested 

 land, ranged from 30 to 75 per cent and under such conditions it 

 was natural that there should be considerable apprehension in 

 the spring of the past season. Our knowledge of this insect enabled 

 the Entomologist to assure many farmers that there would be com- 

 paratively little danger in planting susceptible crops on land badly 

 infested with nearly full-grown grubs, provided this planting was 

 delayed until the middle or latter part of June. The great danger, 

 as has been pointed out previously, is the putting of such crops 

 in fields infested by numerous small, comparatively inconspicuous, 

 partly grown grubs, since these are the ones which devour a large 

 amount of vegetation during the season and cause by far the greater* 

 portion of the injury. 



It is comparatively easy to make general recommendations which 

 may be vitiated to some extent at least by unusual local conditions. 

 By far the greater number of white grubs were in a partly grown 

 stage in the spring of 191 5 and therefore nearly full grown last 

 spring, while in some fields there was a considerable abundance 

 of young grubs in the spring of 19 16. The Entomologist urged 

 farmers to make examinations and plant in accordance with their 

 findings. In one instance the Entomologist made an examination 

 of recently plowed sodland which had been badly injured in 191 5, 

 and which it was proposed to plant to potatoes the past season. 

 A very few small white grubs were to be found here and there and 

 some nearly full-grown ones, the latter apparently much more 

 abundant because of their greater size. The owner was advised 

 to plant potatoes in spite of the presence of the small number of 

 young grubs, and at the end of the season harvested a crop of 325 

 barrels, showing no injury whatever by white grubs. This instance 

 is cited because it illustrates in a concrete manner the possibilities 

 of avoiding, to a considerable extent, injury by these well-known 

 pests, since it is extremely hazardous, if not unwise, to plant potatoes 

 or other susceptible crops on ground infested with many small 

 white grubs. 



Next year, 191 7, is the time for May or June beetles, the parents 

 of the destructive white grubs, to appear in large numbers, and 

 in localities where there is serious injury to the foliage of oak, maple 

 and other trees, severe damage by the grubs may be expected in 

 adjacent grasslands the following season. It is entirely practical 

 for the farmer to judge somewhat of the abundance of the beetles 

 by the extent of their work upon forest trees, and this alone will 

 give some clue of the probabilities another year and, in a measure 



