50 THE SUGAR-BEET WIEEWOEM. 
of great economic importance, for when sound eggs were isolated in 
the cage in which the fungus was working they were seldom attacked, 
showing that the fungus must spread slowly. Its appearance was 
probably the result of unfavorable artificial conditions. 
REMEDIAL MEASURES. 
Historical. 
]\Iost of the literature thus far devoted to the study of wireworms 
from an economic standpoint has been a consideration of remedies. 
Probably no other insects have had more remedies tried for their 
control and with less success. Some of the remedies have been par- 
tially successful, but generally their cost has been such that their use 
for average crops is entirely impractical. One which would come 
under this head was a method tried on a small scale in Europe some 
time ago and consists in baitmg the wireworms and collecting them. 
Eleanor A. Ormerod/ studying several species, gave as remedies (1) 
compacting the ground, (2) clearing off vegetation, and (3) making 
appUcations of gas Hme. vShe stated that crop rotation was of little 
value. John Curtis ^ suggested as remedies frequent plowing to turn 
up the larvae, and appUcations of soot and lime. Mary Treat,^ writ- 
ing on these insects, suggested spring and fall plowing and the trar>- 
ping of larvae. Fall plomng as a remedy was recommended by C. M. 
Weed.^ 
The two most important sets of recommendations based on actual 
exhaustive experiments and careful study were those of Comstock and 
Shngerland ^ at Cornell and S. A. Forbes ^ in Illinois. Their recom- 
mendations are quite different, Forbes suggesting a careful rotation 
of crops, while Comstock and Shngerland advise fall plowing for the 
destruction of the pupae and trapping the adults with poisoned bait. 
Tests of Suggested Remedies Against the Sugar-Beet Wire- 
worm. 
In testing remedies for the sugar-beet wireworm only those were 
tried which heretofore had promised at least partial success and which 
were at the same time thoroughly practical. 
attempts to destroy the adults with poisoned baits. 
Experiments with poisoned bait w^ere carried on against the adults, 
using the bait much after the method suggested by Comstock and 
1 Manual of Injurious Insects and Methods of Prevention. By E. A. Ormerod, 1890, pp. 109. 
2 Farm Insects. By John Curtis, 1860. 
3 Injurious Insects of Farm and Garden. By Mary Treat, 1882. 
^ Insects and Insecticide j. By C. M. Weed, 1891. 
5 Bull. 33, Cornell ^gr. Exp. Sta., 1891. 
fi 18th Kept. State Ent. 111., 1891. 
