116 
Observations on the various Insects 
they may be readily detected and destroyed. As soon as a leaf of 
tlie vounp^ plant dies or the top droops, immediately turn up the 
earth with a trowel, and the enemy will be found at the root; but 
if this be neglected only for a few hours, he will have departed to 
another plant. He also recommends mixing 1 lb. of soap with 
16 gallons of water, and applying it in a warm state to the roots, 
until it sinks into their burrows. " This will cause them to dart 
out of their cells with their heads upwards, where they stand 
perpendicularly as if they were completely killed ; they must how- 
ever be quickly collected, as they will recover in 10 or 15 minutes 
and retire again.'' He adds "that the only remedy favourable 
to extensive crops will be, instead of shooting and frightening the 
rooks, to use every encouragement to induce them to resort there, 
that they may gather the grub for sustenance." If this favours 
the small birds also, which he thinks gather the seed and eat the 
heads of the plants, the mischief may be averted by dusting them 
over with quicklime while the dew is upon the leaves ; this should 
be done as soon as the plants appear aboveground, and ought to 
be repeated in two or three days. The rooks are often accused of 
doing great mischief to crops attacked by the grub, for they not 
only search at the roots of the infested plants, it is said, but they 
pull up all as they go. The rook is so sagacious that I would 
fain release him from this accusation : when he thus pulls the 
plants about I suspect that slugs, wire-worms, and grubs are at 
the roots ; if he did not kill them, the plants must die, and with- 
out his aid the insects would remain ; it is therefore clear that the 
farmer is a gainer by his services, inasmuch as he gets rid of the 
vermin which infest the soil, so that at all events his succeeding 
crops will be free from their attacks. To ascertain the real value 
of the services of birds in keeping under noxious insects, let any 
one kill them all off if possible, and the reward of his folly will be 
a dearth on his land. If the rook does live sometimes at the 
farmer's expense, let him not forget " that the labourer is worthy 
of his hire." 
Pigs are also very fond of the grubs, and these, as well as 
ground-nuts and other roots, afford them a fine feast on waste 
lands, and cause them to root up the ground : whether they could 
be safely employed to search for the Surface-grubs is question- 
able ; if they might, I think they would prove most serviceable 
agents in their destruction when fields are swarming with them 
late in the year. 
The chrysalides are so securely enveloped in a ball of earth, the 
cavity being smoothed perhaps by some fluid from the mouth or 
body of the caterpillar, that it is probably unaffected by the 
sharpest frosts and impervious to the heaviest rains; it is therefore 
useless to attempt to destroy them in that tranquil state by water- 
