50 STRAWBERRIES 
through the young flower-spikes, severing the runners 
(not always an evil), eating unripe fruits, or spoiling 
ripe ones by either eating parts of the flesh or seeds 
or leaving a trail of slime over them. Where 
surface hoeing is regularly practised these enemies 
give little trouble; but, before the mulching of 
Jong litter or straw is given, it is necessary to sprinkle 
soot over the surface of the bed, and especially close 
round each plant. 
OTRAWBERRY-LEAF Button Mots (Peronea comariana). 
—This is a tiny little moth that—in the caterpillar stage, 
during May and June—feeds on strawberries, draw- 
ing leaves or flower-stems together by means of a web, 
and eating the green parts. If surprised, the tiny cater- 
pillars drop, by means of a long thread, to the ground. 
It is not often that this pest attacks young and healthy 
plantations, but those over two years of age are not 
infrequently infested. The best way to cope with this 
pest is to skim off the surface soil after gathering the 
crop, burning or gas-liming it so that caterpillars and 
chrysalids are killed. 
