The Cockchafer and Forestry. 



[dec. 



Destructive Measures. 



1. Collecting the beetles, taking care to begin with the 

 •earliest of the year's flight. The beetles, which fly in the even- 

 ing, are to be found in the early morning and the daytime 

 collected on trees, from which they should be shaken or beaten 

 down with long poles on to cloths spread out for the purpose. 

 The beetles can be killed by dropping them into a little 

 paraffin, or into boiling water, or if carried home in bulk they 

 •can be easily and quickly killed by exposing them in an air- 

 tight receptacle to the fumes of bisulphide of carbon. 



2. When the grubs have got to work, they may be dug up by 

 a trowel or small spade. In addition to the symptoms of 

 .attack previously mentioned, where withering of the parts 

 above ground has not yet revealed itself, badly infested plants 

 will be found to come away in the hand with gentle pulling, 

 .and the grubs will be found either at the roots of these or 

 neighbouring plants. 



On removal of the grubs from the roots of attacked plants, 

 there is some chance of recovery for the plant if the damage 

 .already done has not been excessive. In an infestation 

 recently noticed where injury had been done to larch, Scots 

 pine, Austrian pine, spruce, and cypress, the larch, followed 

 by Lawson's cypress, was found to show the greatest recupera- 

 tive power ; Scots pine, Austrian pine and spruce failed to 

 recover. 



3. Traps. — The larvae may be trapped. For this purpose 

 pieces of turf from 8 to 1 2 in. broad and 6 to 8 in. thick should 

 be laid on the surface of the ground with the grass downwards ; 

 beneath which the larvae collect. Holes may be made here 

 and there and filled with alternate layers of moss and dung or 

 earth. These holes, especially if prepared in the autumn, may 

 serve as places of hibernation for the grubs, and later as places 

 of egg laying for the swarming beetles. All such traps must be 

 regularly visited and renewed. 



4. Trap Plants. — On a small scale the plan of sowing lettuce 

 and strawberry plants between the revs of young conifers or 

 broad-leaved species has been practised with success. The cock- 

 chafer grubs are very fond of these plants, and take them in 

 preference to the others. These two trap plants have also this 



