60 



the necessity of preparing for its probable Spread here, this year is the 

 first one in which there has been a loss so great as to cause much alarm 

 amongst the farmers. Its most serions ravages have been in the north- 

 eastern part of the State, where clover has recently become a quite im- 

 portant and extensively cultivated crop. In many localities from which 

 I have received reports the loss of the clover seed this year has been 

 quite complete. In some cases it appears that the clover has been quite 

 extensively infested with the Clover Thrips (Phloeotlirips nigra), the 

 slender red larva of which seems to be by some mistaken for the larva 

 of the Midge. The Midge was treated in Bulletin 13 of the Iowa Ex- 

 periment Station, illustrated with your figures, and it is hoped that this 

 discussion and the quite general attention it has received from the 

 agricultural press of the State will enable the growers of this valuable 

 crop to ador)t measures by which to secure good crops of seed. 



Another quite serious pest during the year was the Clover-seed Cater- 

 pillar (Grapholitha interstinctana Clem.), which appeared in this locality 

 in great abundance and caused the loss of a large percentage of the seed, 

 though, since for the first crop there was no effort to secure a crop of seed, 

 the loss was, of course, not so important. This species has been treated 

 in detail by Mr. Gossard and myself in Bulletin 14 of the Iowa Experi- 

 ment Station and in an article presented to the Association of Eco- 

 nomic Entomologists (published in Insect Life), and it is therefore 

 unnecessary to go into detail regarding it here. It may be stated, hoAv- 

 ever, that it has been determined to be three-brooded here and that it 

 was found that, when the clover was cut and stored for the first crop 

 with the larvae of the first brood still in the heads, all the larvae per- 

 ished, and it is deemed a complete method of destruction for the species 

 to cut and store the clover while still in bloom the first time, provided 

 this is quite general, so that larvae infesting the scattering clover in 

 fence corners and along roadsides are not developed in abundance to 

 lay eggs for the later broods of the season. 



The Flavescent Clover Weevil {Sitones flavescens) also occurred in 

 considerable abundance here, and it is probably quite generally dis- 

 tributed through the State, since its habits are such as to attract little 

 attention. 



The common species of locusts were abundant and* in some localities 

 I learned of considerable damage to clover and other crops. 



In a number of trials of the hopper dozer plan of treatment for the 

 Grass Leaf-hoppers (which works effectually also for the young ol 

 locusts), it was found that a simple flat sheet of sheet iron covered with 

 coal tar on the upper surface and drawn along by means of cords at- 

 tached at each end was a most effective method of capturing the jump- 

 ing species not only of leaf-hoppers, but young locusts and a number 

 of other small insects. A paper giving results of these tests was read 

 at the Washington meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Agri- 

 cultural Science, and published under joint authorship with Mr. Gossard 



