WIRE WORM AND CLICK BEETLE. 
27 
the crop broadcast, in preference to sowing in drills, as the worm has 
been observed to follow the drill-mark with great regularity, and crops 
sown in drills have been found to suffer much more than those sown 
broadcast, the reason being the greater facility with which the grub 
finds a new plant when it has eaten the old one.—(Adam Lee, for The 
Eight Hon. the Earl of Powis, Lydbury, North Shropshire.) 
Ireland.— We have no Clover leys here, but we have considerable 
trouble with Wireworms in old grass leys. I treat them as follows :— 
If the lea is broken for Oats (our general crop), it is sure to be 
attacked more or less by Wireworm ; I top-dress with 4 cwt. agricul¬ 
tural salt, 2 cwt. superphosphate, and sometimes 1 cwt. nitrate 
of soda. I have never found this to fail if applied in time. If the 
lea is broken in the autumn, to have green crops in the following 
year, I have the land worked as much as possible, and apply 8 tons 
hot lime to the statute acre ; lime as hot as possible. I always sow 
the seed with a liberal dressing of farmyard dung, for such crops as 
Mangold, Turnip, Cabbage, Carrot and Parsnip, and I use the 
following dressing of artificial :—2 cwt. best bone meal, 1 cwt. nitrate 
of soda, and 8 cwt. common salt. I find the plants are soon forced 
up beyond the reach of damage. 
On the old red sandstone formation I find lime absolutely 
necessary. I do not think 8 tons per acre is quite enough, and would 
use 10 tons if I could procure it quickly. That, and also common 
salt, will reduce most of these pests, and nitrate of soda in small 
quantities is most useful to force on almost any crop.—(Sir Richard 
Keene, Cappoquin, Waterford.) 
Some years ago we suffered rather severely in this neighbourhood 
(Ballinacourte, Tipperary) from Wireworms, but since adopting the 
following system of top dressing previous to ploughing, the Wireworm 
has ceased to trouble us. 
In preparing lea for Oats, I either top-dress the surface with lime 
or by sheep. When by lime, I prefer to draw the lime daily as 
it leaves the kiln, and put it down in heaps which I cover with earth. 
The heaps are small and placed conveniently for spreading. They 
are allowed to remain until the stones are pulverized, and then the 
lime is spread in the hot state over the surface. The effect of hot 
lime is to burn off the grass, and thus to destroy the food of the 
Wireworms ; also when (as is well known), they come to the surface 
after freshet, they do not do well amongst the lime. Further, I am 
of opinion that this system of top-dressing has a good effect in 
destroying eggs from which Wireworms would have hatched. I use 
from 60 to 80 barrels of lime (measured before being pulverized) to 
the Irish acre.* Top-dressing by sheep-folding involves a system 
* 100 Irish acres are equivalent to 162 English acres, consequently an Irish acre 
amounts to about one acre and three-fifths, English measurement. 
