Insects, Diseases and Frost 273 



Carolina. Sometimes it causes a loss of fifty per cent of the crop. 

 Early blossoms are injured chiefly, so that the shortage is mostly in 

 early fruit, which brings the highest prices. 



The adult beetles hibernate over winter and appear in the straw- 

 berry field as soon as the earUest blossom buds show. They con- 

 tinue to emerge in great numbers for a month. 

 The weevil is about one-tenth of an inch long, 

 black to reddish brown, with a large black spot on 

 each wing cover (Fig. 19). Most of the damage 

 is caused by the female weevil, which lays an egg 

 in the bud, then girdles the stem below it. The 

 lava feeds within the bud ; in three or four weeks 

 it pupates and emerges as a full grown weevil. 

 The new generation of weevils feeds for a short 

 time on the pollen of various kinds of flowers, in- 

 cluding the strawberry, then disappears. °' 19- "Adult 



Control measures are limited mainly to preven- 

 tion. Since the larva feeds mainly on pollen, the most effective 

 measure is to grow pistillate varieties and use only enough plants of 

 staminate sorts to pollinate them. The susceptibility of varieties 

 is in direct ratio to the amount of pollen they produce. Staminate 

 varieties which blossom early and profusely may be used as a trap 

 crop and are plowed under after the weevils have congregated upon 

 them. Many growers rely entirely upon profuse-blooming stami- 

 nate varieties for protection — those that produce enough blossoms 

 to bear good crops even though attacked by the weevil. In the 

 home garden, covering the plants closely with muslin before they 

 bloom will protect them. The attacks of this insect are so sporadic 

 that most growers find it impracticable to spray. All trash and 

 weeds in and around the field should be destroyed. Use mulch 

 only when absolutely necessary, as the weevils hibernate beneath it. 



Leaf-roller (Ancylis comptana). 



This is a pest in the Northern states and Canada, from Colorado 

 eastward. A greenish or brownish caterpillar, about one-half of an 

 inch long, with a shining brown head, draws the two halves of the 

 leaflet together with silken strands and feeds on the surface of the 

 inclosed leaf, causing it to turn brown and die. If abundant, by 

 the middle of June the field looks as if scorched by fire. It is the 



