269 
Remedies for Wireworms. 
Please tell me if there isa more economical remedy to kill wireworms than salt? 
If not, how large a quantity would it require to kill every one and not affect the next 
crop? Would fall plowing alone help the matter?—[T. E. Martin, New York, October 
16, 1891. 
REpLyY.—Wireworms are the larve of Click Beetles, and by destroying the beetles 
before they have deposited their eggs, from which the wireworms issue in the spring, 
the crop of worms will be greatly reduced. This affords the best means of limiting 
the damage resulting from their attacks. The use of salt is rather doubtful on ac- 
count of the large amount necessary to cover a sufficient area to kill the worms, and 
fallplowing wouldnot beof the slightest benefit. Avery effectual and practical remedy 
consists in attracting the beetles to poisoned bait. Some elaborate experiments in 
this direction have been made by Prof. Comstock and show that the beetles can be 
easily attracted to baits of clover which have been poisoned by wetting with one of 
the arsenicals. These baits consist of small bunches of the freshly cut plant, about 
one-fourth pound in weight, distributed throughout the field and protected and kept 
moist by being covered with boards. 
As an indication of the efficiency of this method it is stated that a series of twelve 
traps yielded in three days, 482 beetles or an average or more than 40 per trap. These 
traps should be put out during the early summer, and the beetles killed within the 
majority of cases have not deposited their eggs and the consequent depredations of 
their larvee, the Wireworms, will be greatly diminished. It frequently happens that 
the infested areas are rather limited in extent and do not cover the entire field, and 
where this is the case the labor of distributing bait will be greatly lessened. The 
bait should be renewed once or twice per week during the early part of summer. In 
place of the clover, corn-meal dough and sliced potatoes are used, but clover has 
proven itself the most valuable. Where a field has become extensively infested by 
the worms there is little which can be done so far as any actual experiment has 
shown. It has been found that a heavy top dressing of kainit acts fairly well against 
the Cutworms, and as this is a valuable fertilizer, no harm certainly could be brought 
about by experimenting with it against Wireworms. If you arein position to try 
this remedy it would give us pleasure to receive a report upon it from you. The 
starving-out remedy is efficacious, but this means the total loss of one crop from the 
infested field, as the land is left in failow through one entire season. As the worms, 
however, may remain for three years in the larval state, this method is sometimes. 
used. It has frequently been claimed that by sowing the infested field to buckwheat 5 
the worms will be starved out, as they will not eat of this crop. This, however, has 
been disputed and we would hardly recommend it without more authoritative infor- 
mation. *—[October 24, 1891. ] 
Coleopterous Larve in a Cistern. 
I send you herein larve from a neighbor’s cistern brought me for identification. 
They have been pumped up from thesame cistern for several years in varying quanti- 
ties; what are they? * * * —[M.C. Read, Ohio, December 11, 1891. 
REPLy.—* * * While we are not able to determine these larve definitely they 
seem without doubt to belong to some beetle of the family Dascyllide. Your neigh- 
bor should search for beetles in and about his cistern and send them on. In that 
way we can probably identify the species.* * * —[December 16, 1891. ] 
A Longicorn Borer in Apple Roots. 
I send a worm and some pieces of apple-tree root. * * * This apple tree is five 
years old, never very thrifty, which I supposed was in the kind of tree, Autumn Straw- 
*See also special note on p. 231 of the current volume. 
