90 DISEASES OF CBOPS. 



either in the earth close to the root of a plant, or between 

 the sheathing leaves near the base of the stem." 



Prevention. — (1) Good cultivation and liberal manuring ' 

 produce strong and vigorous plants, which may yield, in 

 spite of the land containing wire-worms, a tolerably good 

 crop ; for it is said that the " wire-worms injure and 

 weaken a great deal more than they destroy." (2) Burn 

 all rubbish on which the wire-worms may possibly feed. 

 (3) The common mole and the various insectivorous birds 

 (especially the " wheat-ear ") are the natural enemies of 

 the wire- worm. Mr. W. Swaysland, in his Familiar Wild 

 Birds, cites " as an instance of the service rendered to the 

 farmer by the ' wheat-ear ' {Saxicola oenanthe) and similar 

 birds," that he "remembers a field about eight acres in 

 extent which one season was so infested with wire-worms 

 that cultivation was almost useless. The field was 

 ploughed and harrowed about the end of April, or the 

 beginning of May, and at this time large numbers of 

 ' wheat-ears ' congregated there daily ; in fact, they seemed 

 to have forsaken the surrounding localities for this par- 

 ticular spot. Their services in the extirpation of the 

 above-mentioned wire-worms may be best imagined from 

 the fact that after the advent of the birds the field became 

 productive, and a first-rate crop was the result of their 

 labours and assiduity." 



Cure. — (1) The soil from broken-up pastures, etc., should 

 be dressed with fifteen tons of gas-lime per acre. The 

 sulphite and sulphide of lime present in gas-lime destroy 

 the wire-worms, as well as other insects and weeds. 

 When the land is ready once more for cultivation {i.e., in 



' For the most suitable manures, see Manures and their Uses, p. 42 

 (Bell's Agricultural Series). 



