FARM INSECTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 20 June 1925, Page 12

FARM INSECTS.

PESTS AND THEIR CONTROI

Insect pests, their mode of attack and methods oi control, was the subject of a lecture given on Wednesday evening at the farm school at Manaia by Mr” D. Miller, entomologist to the Department of Agriculture. ihe lecture was <su:itaibly illustrated by lantern istides. Mr. Miller first dealt with the grass grub. pointing out thait it was the ■adult beetle of the grass grub that was the destructive turnip iiy. He ail so pointed out how tins pest, when in the form of the grub, was very destructive to grafts, especially in light soils. Here the grub worked beneath the soil eating the roots of the grasses and causing their destruction. Certain deep-rooting grasses were more or dess immune on account ot their great powens. of recovery. Later in the autumn the grub pupated and passed the winter hiberniating in the soil. In the spring the adult brown beetle was hatched from the puae, and this; was the insect known as the turnip fly. It was a night feeder and hard to detect. Ait- du>sk, in the summer evenings, these beetles could be heal'd droning through the air, especially beneath treeft. The control of this.pest, stated Mr. Miller, was most difficult. The feeding out of hay and roots on the affected area' during the autumn did much to consolidate the ground and crush out the grubs. ■ The next group- of insects dealt with to that group that included cut worms; and army worms. These two pests were really the grubs; ol moths. The cut worm, did not climb plants for its food, but merely fell them by biting through, at the base, hence the name ( cut worm. The control consisted ot destroying all roughage to prevent shelter for the moths to lay. and in the destruction of cruciferous, plants, as it was on these that the moths ftubsi.sed during the season when they were on the wing. The army worm got its name from the way in which it moves and feeds. Thousands, even millions, of these grubs move forward as an army, clearing all crops before them. So great have been the numbers of these grubs (at times that they have been known to stop a train through making, the line slippery. Control was difficult, but it consisted iu ploughing furrows in front- of the advancing army and so impending its forward! movement. - Thedis, or what is more commonly known as sheep tick, animal lice, and fleas were next dealt with. Mr. Miller stating th/at with careful dipping most of these pests could be kept in ohec-k. Horse and sheep hots- were also discussed, Mr. Miller explaining how the hots were taken into, the bodies of the animals, and also the treatment that .should be given.

At the conclusion of the lecture a vote of thanks to the 'lecturer, proposed by Mr. Stevenson, was carried, b v accliamatio n.