The Click-Beetle The Wire- worm 
THE WIRE-WORM 
Within but a few hundred yards of where 
I sit writing, there is situated a large 
ploughed field. How often have I admired 
the patience with which the farmer goes 
up and down, with what seems to me an 
endless monotony as he drives the plough- 
share into the soil . and thus, and with 
many another process, prepares for the 
final harvest. I watched him recently 
as he carefully sowed the seed and then — 
what ? Not a field covered with beautiful 
regular lines of bright verdant wheat ; 
precious little of anything at all. The 
whole crop had been destroyed by a small 
insignificant little villain called the wire- 
worm, one single specimen of which can do 
a lot of harm, but when allied with large 
numbers of his species, becomes truly a 
terrible pest. If it is any consolation to 
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