. Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower. Beneficial insects. THE INSECT WORLD. 231 Fig. making it difficult to pierce with any ordinary pin. It bores little holes in the leaf and flower stems of the plant, laying an 0.^^ in each, from which hatches in due time a white, grub-like larva, which feeds in the plant tissue. Where the leaves are regularly cut for market, little trouble is experi- enced. All old leaves not needed by the plant should be removed and destroyed, so that after midsummer none of the early leaves should re- main on the plants. If this practice is constant
. Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower. Beneficial insects. THE INSECT WORLD. 231 Fig. making it difficult to pierce with any ordinary pin. It bores little holes in the leaf and flower stems of the plant, laying an 0.^^ in each, from which hatches in due time a white, grub-like larva, which feeds in the plant tissue. Where the leaves are regularly cut for market, little trouble is experi- enced. All old leaves not needed by the plant should be removed and destroyed, so that after midsummer none of the early leaves should re- main on the plants. If this practice is constantly carried out no injury need be apprehended. The natural food-plant is said to be dock. In the genus Anthonomiis small species predominate, and the colors are modest, but their powers of in- jury are by no means in proportion to their size. One of the most trou- blesome is the "strawberry-weevil," A. signatus, which appears as a small, blackish beetle, with gray pubescence, when the buds are developing, and lays an Ggg in each, afterward puncturing the flower-stalk be- low the bud so as to check development. The larva feeds upon the pollen in the unopened bud, and finds it sufficient to attain its full growth, changing to a beetle in midsummer. The insect attacks a number of other flowers in the same way, not even confining itself to one natural family, and its injury to straw- berries is of a somewhat intermittent character, becoming worse for a number of years, then stopping suddenly for no apparent reason. Only staminate, or pollen-bearing, varieties are attacked, and the Sharpless is, perhaps, the most seriously infested. By planting chiefly pistillate varieties, the staminate rows may be protected by cheap coverings until the buds are ready to open, and even if a small Rhubarb-beetle, Lixus concavus. —a, its larva ; b, Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbenefic, bookyear1906
