664 
1 HE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  i,  1897, 
Agricultural  Pests : 
WITH  METHODS  OE  PREVENTION. 
BY  MISS  E.  A.  ORMEUOD 
(Late  Consulting  Entomologist  to  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England). 
IV. 
Beetles  and  Weevils  Injituous  to  Field 
Caops  AND  Gardens, 
The  Apple-blossom  weevil  {Anthonomus  pomonm) 
does  much  harm  by  laying  its  eggs  in  unopened 
apple-buds,  where  the  maggot  feeds,  and  thus 
destroys  the  young  forming  fruit.  This  weevil 
shelters  itself  during  winter  under  clods  of  earth 
and  rubbish,  and  also  beneath  rough  bark  on  the 
tree  (so  that  keeping  rough  ground  and  bark  in 
order  serves  much  to  diminish  their  numbers) ; but 
further,  it  comes  out  in  the  spring,  and  the  females, 
it  IS  stated,  rarely  fly,  but  crawl  on  the  branches, 
and  drop  down  on  being  alarmed.  By  working  on 
this  habit  of  the  apple-blossom  weevil  (and  of 
some  other  kinds),  we  may  clear  many  sorts  of 
fruit  trees  and  bush  fruit  simply  by  jarring  the 
boughs.  Thus  the  weevil  falls,  and  we  only  need 
to  use  such  plans  as  common  sense  will  teach  us, 
to  keep  it  from  getting  back  again.  Wilh  the 
apple  weevil,  or  those  that  are  shaken  down  from 
the  trees,  such  methods  as  putting  a rough  rope, 
or  a ring  of  anything  they’  will  not  cross  on  the 
ground,  round  the  trunk,  answer  well.  This  may 
be  made  ef  twisted  hay  (or  anything  preferred), 
which  has  been  dipped  in  spirits  of  tar,  or  in  tar 
and  coarse  oil,  so  that  it  may  keep  wet  and  sticky 
or  caustic  gas-lime  may  be  shovelled  round,  of 
course  taking  care  not  to  hurt  the  bark. 
In  Cornwall,  where  the  pitchy-legged  Weevils, 
or  other  kinds  of  Otiorhijnchii^,  injure  the  fruit  to 
an  extent  causing  serious  loss  in  the  great  rasp- 
berry gardens,  it  is  found  to  ansuer,  well  for  men 
to  go  round  with  freshy  tarred  boards,  place  the 
boards  below  a bush  and  shake ; the  weevils  fall 
on  the  tar  and  stick  to  it.  Thus,  clearing  the 
weevils  and  retarring  the  boards  frequently,  the 
weevils  are  got  rid  of  at  a paying  rate. 
The  principle  of  alarming  the  weevils,  so  as  to 
jnake  them  fall,  may  be  applied  to  many  kinds  of 
weevil  attack,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  weevils  com- 
monly fall  on  the  first  alarm  ; and  we  must  give  a little 
attentim  to  their  habits,  or  they  may  all  have 
dropped  down  and  secured  themselves  before  he  have 
set  about  frightening  them  in  full  form. 
' Several  kinds  of  weevils  feed  on  peas,  beans,  and 
clover  leaves,  doing  thereby  most  serious  harm. 
The  terribly  destructive  pea  weevils  were  formerly 
supposed  to  feed  only  by  day ; then  they  fall  at 
the  vibration  of  a foot,  and  bury  themselves. 
There  may  have  been  hundreds  a minute  before, 
but  you  will  very  likely  not  see  one  ; but  beat  the 
ground  with  a spade  and  you  will  most  likely  see 
them  all  struggling  up  out  of  the  earth  again. 
More  recently,  however,  observations  have  shown 
that  they  may  be  found  at  night  working  at  the 
edges  of  the  leaves,  and  then  it  is  stated  they 
are  not  nearly  so  susceptible  of  alarm. 
Returning  now  to  the  ravages  of  the  SitoiicSj 
commonly  known  as  “ pea  and  bean  weevils,”  these 
may  be  told  by  the  semi-circular  srcoops  eaten 
out  of  the  leaves,  We  find  these  attacks  the  worst 
to  the  leafage  of  young  plants,  especially  when,  from 
weather  or  other  circumstances,  the  plant  is  kept 
back,  so  that  it  cannot  grow  av,  y irom  them  ; but 
the  weevils  are  to  ■ be  found  in  legions  later  in  the 
year,  and  sweeping  these  up,  as  they  are  to  be  found 
in  the  waggons  when  cloieror  peas  are  being  carri- 
e 1,  would  get  rid  of  some  amount  of  coming  at- 
tack. The  main  point  we  seem  to  need  here  is 
to  prevent  the  settlement  of  the  autumn  brood  of 
beetles.  These  fly  well,  and  have  been  found  to 
shelter  themselves  in  the  top  joint  of  corn  stubble, 
and  from  this  they  come  out  to  .set  on  foot  attack 
in  Trifolium,  or  clover,  drilled  after.  Also  it  has 
been  noticed  that  where  wheat-sheaves  stood  long 
in  havest-time,  the  clover  on  these  spots  was  free 
from  attack  in  the  following  spring,  although  that 
on  the  rest  of  the  field  was  attacked.  Acting  on 
these  observations,  skimming  the  surface  stubble, 
so  as  to  get  rid  of  the  shelter,  has  been  considered 
useful ; and  a good  liming,  or  other  chemical  dress- 
ing, much  of  which  would  go  into  the  stubble  and 
make  it  a very  undesirable  home  for  the  w’eevil, 
would  help  us.  All  measures  which  will  pu^h  on 
good  growth  are  valuable  preventives  in  this  case  ; 
and  in  gardens  it  would  probably  do  a deal  of  good, 
to  lay  the  drawn  and  useless  haulm  along  the  rows, 
with  any  dry  rubbish,  and  burn  it.  It  appears  to 
be  the  nature  of  this  weevil  to  come  up  not  to  go 
down,  on  alarm  ; and  we  might  thus  clear  out.  the 
parents  of  the  next  spring’s  attack. 
The  small  long-snouted  “ iiear-shaped”  clover 
weevil  also  does  much  harm  to  clover  leafage  ; but 
in  this  case  the  grub  lives  in  tlie  seed-head,  and 
seeds  on  the  young  forming  seed ; and  the  best 
known  method  of  prevention  is  cutting  the  clover 
before  the  flower  is  fully  out.  These  pear-shaped 
weevils  are  so  very  small  that  they  are  hardly 
observable,  but  the  damage  to  the  leafage,  or  patches 
of  brownish  heads  in  a held  in  llower,  shows  where 
they  are  at  work. 
There  is  yet  one  more  of  the  common  weevil 
attack  of  the  bean  crops  to  notice  ; it  is  that  of  a 
small  short-snouted  weevil  (black  with  brown  hairs 
and  white  markings),  which  is  often  found  inside 
broad  beans,  with  no  signs  outside  of  how  it  got 
there.  The  attack  happens  thus  : — When  the  bean- 
pod  is  still  in  its  very  youngest  state,  even  still  in 
the  blossom,  the  beetle  lays  its  egg  there  ; the 
maggot,  which  hatches  from  it,  lies  in  one  of  the 
young  beans  in  the  pod,  but  the  hole  by  which 
the  egg  was  put  in,  or  maggot  crept  in,  is  so 
small  that  it  giows  up  completely  wdth  the  growth  of 
the  bean.  When  the  beans  are  ripe  and  garnered, 
the  maggot  is  there  too.  It  feeds  within  ; and 
though  it  does  not  prevent  the  bean  sprouting,  yet  it 
lessens  the  size  of  the  seed-leaves,  and  consiquently 
weakens  the  first  growth,  and  thus  damages  the 
strength  of  the  future  plant.  Hero  one  good  method 
of  prevention  is  to  examine  a sample  seed,  to 
find  whether  it  is  infested.  The  maggot  turns 
to  a beetle  within  the  seed  ; but  before  it 
does  this  it  eats  a tunnel  to  the  outside, 
only  just  leaving  the  outer  skin  at  the  end.  This, 
having  nothing  behind  it  sinks  in,  as  if  a knitting- 
needle  had  been  slightly  pressed  on  it.  By  this 
little  round  dented-in  mark  j'ou  may  know  infested 
seed  ; if,  instead  of  the  mark,  there  is  a small 
round  hole,  the  beetle  has  completed  its  work 
within,  and  has  gone.  By  these  two  marks  you 
may  judge  as  to  the  state  of  the  seed  ; and,  further, 
if  there  should  be  the  mark  showing  the  beetle 
is  still  within,  it  is  unsafe  to  sow'  as  attack  will 
follow.  The  beetles  will  presently  come  out,  and 
as  soon  as  the  beans  in  which  they  were  sown 
have  grown,  and  are  in  flower,  their  sometime  ten- 
ants will  mount  to  the  blossoms,  and  lay  eggs  to 
start  a new  attack.  The  bean  beetles  begin  to 
appear  in  February,  and  for  this  reason  autumn- 
sow'u  beans  are  the  most  likely  to  be  infested  as 
the  beetles  are  still  within. 
During  the  last  few  years  it  has  been  found  that 
dressing  infested  beans,  before  sowing,  with  a 
mixture  of  1 lb.  blue  vitriol,  and  1 pint  of  klcDougall's 
sewage  carbolic  to  6 quarts  ol  wattr,  answered 
well.  The  above  mixture  is  enough  for  six  bushels 
of  beans. 
The  cabbage  and  turnip  gall  weevils  do  harm 
underground.  The  female  lays  her  egg  on  the 
root  or  the  under-ground  part  of  the  stem,  or  in 
a hole  which  she  forms  wilh  her  snout ; and  in 
consequence  of  the  irritation  thus  set  up  the 
small  lumps  form,  which  wo  know  as  gails.  In 
each  of  these  the  maggot  hatched  from  the  egg 
feeds,  until  it  is  full  fed.  Tnen  it  gnaws  its  way 
out  and  forms  an  earthen  case,  in  which  it  turns 
to  a pupa,  and  thence  to  a weevil. 
