STRAWBERET. 



85 



and by continually manipulating the soil they are ex- 

 posed to the attacks of birds, and many are destroyed by 

 crushing ; besides this, the Beetles will seldom deposit 

 their eggs in freshly disturbed soil. As all the May 

 Beetles are nocturnal in habit, many may be taken by 

 using tubs of water with a floating light in the center. 

 ^ A few hundred taken every evening during the lirst few 

 weeks of summer will do something toward dmiinishiug 

 the number of the succeeding generations in a neighbor- 

 hood, but the birds and domestic fowls are the Straw- 

 berry grower's most efficient helpers in the way of destroy- 

 ing May Beetles and White Grubs. The grubs are greedi- 

 ly devoured by birds ; the Crow being exceedingly fond of 

 them. This much abused bird will always seek them on 

 recently plowed ground, where, I regret to say, many a 

 Crow has lost his life while devouring the White Grub ; 

 he vvT.3 benefiting the cultivator, w^ho returned his kind- 

 ness vv^th a death-dealing bullet. From a j)retty intimate 

 acquaintance with the habits of the Crow, having kept 

 several tame ones, I am well satisfied that they are far 

 more beneficial than injurious to the farmer. A crow 

 will eat a hundred white grubs in a daj^, after he he has 

 had a breakfast of an equal number of rose bugs. I do 

 not state this as an imaginary case, but as a simple fact 

 that I have proved many times. From experience, I 

 firmly believe that the Crow is one of the most useful 

 birds that we possess, although he does a little mischief 

 now and then in the way of pulling up corn. When 

 domesticated he forgets those tricks of his wild nature, 

 and, not being a timid bird, he is not frightened by hoe 

 or spade, but when the earth is turned over he is gener- 

 ally there to see and do his duty. 



At the time of writing this book, my strawberry beds 

 and those of my neighbors had suffered more or less by a 

 small green worm, at that time unknovrn to me or to any 

 entomologist of my acquaintance? This insect was quite 



