206 
Observations on the various Insects 
are otLers who consider that they may be buried 2 or 3 inches 
deep ; but these variations in the mode of application arise^ in all 
probability, from differences in the soil. 
Excellent as many of the foregoing remedies may be, I must 
confess I think highly of Jiand-piching ; its effects are certain, it 
is comparatively not expensive, especially when it is borne in 
mind that it gives employment to the children of the labourer ; 
and where the Wireworms swarm it must be successful, as will 
soon be demonstrated. What must have been their amount in a 
field shown to Mr. Spence, " in which," he says, " they had de- 
stroyed one-fourth of the crop ; and the gentleman who showed 
them to me calculated that his loss by them would be 100/. One 
year he sowed a field thrice with turnips, which were twice 
wholly, and the third time in great part, cut off by this insect." * 
Bierkander, after all his experiments, appears to have depended 
most upon hand-picking ; for, he says, " in a field where rye was 
intended to be sown, I last autumn (1778) emploved a child to 
follow the plough and pick up the worms; by this means 351 
were collected in a piece of land 600 feet long and 56 broad. 
The quantity which was taken in other fields was not counted. 
There were caught in the furrows, according to their length, 
4, 6, 10, to 14 worms. It would be serviceable if children always 
followed the plough and gathered these yellow worms into a 
bottle ; they would by that means be considerably diminished, and 
perhaps in time entirely exterminated." j The following fact 
shows the advantages of this system, and requires no comment. 
" A striking instance," says Mr. Spence, " of the use of hand- 
picking (in most cases by far the most effective mode of getting 
rid of insects) appeared in the ' West Briton,' a provincial paper, 
in November, 1838, stating that Mr. G. Pearce, of Pennare 
Goran, had saved an acre and a half of turnips, sown to replace 
wheat destroyed by the VVireworm and attacked by hosts of these 
larvae, by setting boys to collect them; who, at the rate of \hd. 
per 100, gathered 18,000; as many as 50 having been taken 
from one turnip. Thus, at the expense of only 1/. 2*. 6c?., an 
acre and a half of turnips, worth Irom 5/. to 71., or more, was 
saved ; while, as the boys could each collect 600 per day, 30 
days' emjiloyment was given to them at 9f/. per day, which they 
would not otherwise have had." J 
As birds and animals are the farmer's best friends, I shall 
always advocate their cause, and to establish their claims I shall 
quote various good authorities who have borne testimony to their 
utilitv, in addition to those winch have been already given. 
* Kiiby and Spence's Int. to Ent., Gth edit., vol. i. p. 154. 
•!• Comniun. to Board of Agric, vol. iv. p. 414. 
% Kirby and Spuncc s Int. to Ent., vol. i. p. 154. 
