Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower : and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges . the genus Macrodactylus, of which the rose-chafer, orrose-bug is a member. This appears in June at about thetime roses and grapes come into blossom, and eats their flowersin preference to anything else. Occasionally, for a series of years, the insects appear in ever-increasing abundance, until tiie swarms are so great that theyruin not only vineyards but orchards and gardens, eating almostevery kind of fruit and flower. In the presence of such swarmswe are almost helpless, an
Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower : and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges . the genus Macrodactylus, of which the rose-chafer, orrose-bug is a member. This appears in June at about thetime roses and grapes come into blossom, and eats their flowersin preference to anything else. Occasionally, for a series of years, the insects appear in ever-increasing abundance, until tiie swarms are so great that theyruin not only vineyards but orchards and gardens, eating almostevery kind of fruit and flower. In the presence of such swarmswe are almost helpless, and insecticides are of no possible contact poison kills them, and the arsenites or other stomach 200 AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. poisons act too slowly, as two or three days suffice to ruin a vine-yard. Lest this seem strange, I will state that I have seen onhundreds of acres of vineyard every vine bearing multitudes, andevery bunch of blossoms from two to ten, or even more have counted over twenty on a single apple, and a full-blownrose may bear as many as thirty or even more. We are reduced Fig. Larva, a, and , of rose-chafer ; b \.o e, g, h, structural details. to actually collecting the specimens from the vines by means offunnel or umbrella-shaped collectors, adapted to the method ofcultivation in use. They drop readily when the vines are jarred,and the collector should be so made as to roll them to the centreand into an attached pail containing kerosene. This must bedone not only daily, but continuously for several days until theflight is over or the grapes have set, for well-set grapes arerarely eaten. Fortunately, a period of abnormal increase seemsto be followed by a period of decrease, though the lengths of theperiods have not been ascertained. The larvae feed in light landon the roots of various plants, but principally on grass. Theypupate in spring, shortly before changing to the ?dult condition,and by ploughing infested sod at this time a lar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectinsectp, bookyear1906
