202 
Observations on the various Insects 
rain fall it will so cement the earth together that the beetles when 
hatched will die in their tombs. 
There are some Crops which appear to be extremely useful in 
keeping- the VVireworms imder, and amongst them is Woad. I 
learn from Dr. Roy, that, on breaking up damp meadow and 
pasture land in Lincolnshire, if it be sown with woad instead of 
corn, the Wireworm will be got rid of; and about Boston it is 
found to be a very profitable crop. It may be repeated for two 
years, after which splendid crops of oats and potatoes may be 
obtained from the land. It may not be irrelevant to remark here 
that it is a prevailing opinion respectmg the Bedford Level, that 
over-draining has caused great mischief to the wheat crops by in- 
creasing the Wireworms. 
White mustard-seed sown on land will secure the succeeding 
crop of wheat or other corn against this insect; and Mr. Tallent's* 
account of his success being satisfactory, I shall transcribe it: — 
" White mustard-seed will protect the grain from the Wireworm, 
and this fact I have demonstrated perfectly to my own conviction. I 
first tried the experiment on half an acre, in the centre of a 50-acre 
field of fallow, which was much subject to the Wireworm. The mustard- 
seed being carried, the whole field was fallowed for wheat, and the half- 
acre that had been previously cropped with mustard-seed was wholly 
exempt from the Wireworm : the remainder of the field was much in- 
jured. Not only was the half-acre thus preserved, but in the spring it 
was decidedly the most advanced part of the crop ; and the prosperous 
appearance which it presented caiised me to repeat the experiment, by 
sowing 3 acres more of mustard-seed m the worst part of a field of 45 
acres, also much infested with the Wireworm. The remainder of the 
field was sown with early frame peas, which, with the mustard-seed, 
were cleared in the same week. The land was then ploughed for wheat; 
and I had the pleasure of noticing these 3 acres to be quite free from 
the worm, and much superior in oiher respects to the other part of the 
field, which suffered greatly. Thus encouraged by these results, I 
sowed the next year a whole field of 42 acres, which had never repaid 
me for nineteen years, in consequence of nearly every crop being de- 
stroyed by the Wireworm ; and I am warranted in stating that not a 
single Wireworm could be found the following year, and the crop of 
wheat throughout which was reaped last harvest was superior to any I 
had grown for twenty one years. I am therefore under a strong persua- 
sion that the Wireworm may be successfully rejielled and eradicated by 
carel'uily destroying all weeds and roots, and drilling white mustard- 
seed, and keeping the ground clean by hoeing." \ 
Mr. Loudon is of opinion " that the Wireworm cannot eat the 
roots of the mustard, most probably from their acridity, and there 
* or Little Houghton. 
t Read before a meeting of the Northamptonshire Farming Society, 
and inscited in the ' Country Times,' Sept. 1831. 
