86 



can be pressed into the ground, and the tubular shape is easily preserved by securing it 

 above with a piece of twine. This will effectually keep all cut- worms from the tree, for 

 these heavy-bodied caterpillars are unable to crawl over the smooth surface. A similar 

 expedient is to tie a band of cotton batting around the stem, as the caterpillars cannot 

 crawl over this yielding material. 



For surface cut-worms the most efficient remedies are the following : — 



1. Keeping down all weeds in late summer and autumn, so as to deprive those 

 species which hatch in the autumn of their food supply and winter shelter. 



2. Burning off all the stubble and rubbish as late as possible in spring, when many 

 caterpillars and the eggs of some species will be destroyed. 



3. Placing some substance with an obnoxious odor around young 

 plants when first set out, as fresh gas-lime, or sand or sawdust 

 saturated with coal oil or carbolic acid. 



4. Wrapping. Young plants may be protected in a large 

 measure by simply wrapping a piece of paper around the stems at 

 the time of planting. 



5. Tomato cans with the tops and bottoms cut out, placed over 

 the young plants, or strips of tin as suggested for Climbing Out- 

 worms, will be found to well repay the trouble and expense of pro- 

 curing them. 



6. Kerosene emulsions. Where these caterpillars occur in very 

 large numbers, spraying infested beds with a kerosene emulsion at FlG 9_;fiery Ground 

 night has been found very beneficial. Beetle. 



7. Traps. Placing bundles of leaves or grass, poisoned with Paris green, between 

 the rows of infested beds has been found a useful means of destroying large numbers of 

 these pests. 



8. Hand picking. When a plant is seen to have been eaten off, of course the cut- 

 worm should always be looked for and destroyed. They will generally be found close to 

 the root and about an inch beneath the surface. 



In addition to the above artificial remedies, nature has provided the farmer with 

 many useful and active assistants in the shape of various predaceous insects. Con- 

 spicuous amongst these are the Ground Beetles, which should be known by sight by 

 every one, so that they may be protected, and not, as is often the case, destroyed because 

 they are insects. At Fig. 9 is shewn the " Fiery Ground Beetle " (Calosoma calidum 

 Fab.), a common and very useful species. Its color is deep black with red (or some- 

 times green) glowing spots. The grub has been styled the " Cut-worm Lion," on account 

 of its useful habits of destroying these pests. 



THE IMPORTED CURRANT SAW-FLY-(NEMATUS RIBESII, SCOP). 



Amongst insects which every year make their presence noticeably apparent by their 

 injuries, and thus win the distinction of being " First-class Pests " to the fruit-grower, 

 not one, perhaps, is better known, nor, when not checked in its operations, more annoy- 

 ing, than the currant worm, the larval state of the imported currant saw-fly, Neraatui 

 Hibe^ii, Scop. ( = X. ventricosus, Klug). 



This is a European insect, which, although it has only been noticed in America for 

 thirty years, lias already spread over a large proportion of the settled parts. Early in 

 the spring when the buds are bursting upon the currant and gooseberry bushes, active 

 yellowish four-winged flies will be seen flying around the bushes or crawling over the 

 unfolding leaves. These are the parents of the currant worms. The two sexes differ 

 a good deal in appearance. At Fig. 10 they are both represented enlarged. The hair- 

 lines at the sides show their natural sizes. The male is shown at a. It is slightly the 

 smaller and is much darker in color. The head and thorax are almost black, with some 



