Horticultural.

Southern Cross, Volume 4, Issue 1, 4 April 1896, Page 3

Horticultural.

LEAFLETS FOR GARDENERS AND FRUIT-GROWERS. (Issued by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture.) Grass Grub, Wffiite Grub, Chafer, Brown Beetle {fJdontTixh zealctndico..') [tiy T. W. Kirk, F.L.S., &c., Lond., Government Biologist.] This is a native insect, which causes enormous loss to pa atora lists by eating the roots of grasses. Its larva also damages the root of a very large number of orchard trees and fruit plants, potato crops, etc., besides forest trees ; indeed, even such plants as Pinus insignis are frequently attacked. The eggs are laid in early spring, and the larva sometimes takes four years to reach maturity. In the adult of beetle stage it devours the foliage of trees and also of crops, such as potatoes. A somewhat lengthy account of the appearance and life-history will be given when speaking of its ravages in pastures. It will be sufficient here to say that the grub is dirty-white with a brown head, and of the size shown in the cut. The drawing of the beetle is also life size. The color of the adult insect is dark-brown. In the grub stage, injection of carbon bisulphide, is probably the most effectual remedy known. Watering the ground with a solution of caustic potash is also recommended. Apply fertilisers in order to push on the crop or tree. Strawberry gardens are frequently severely damaged by the attacks of this grub on the roots of the |ffant. In'the adult stage Paris-green applied with a proper spray pump will kill a great many, or when feeding on trees they may be captured in the way recommended by Mr Hanlon and myself for the destruction of the small bronze beetle, in the pamphlet issued by that gentleman in 1892, and quoted below : The small bronze beetle Encolaspis brunea ) is proving a very serious pest in many orchards in the North, destroying the fruit of the apple, and also eating the leaves from the young of the plum and pear. Many enquiries have been made as to the best way of fighting this pest. As it is somewhat difficult to poison with Par is green, owing to its habit of feeding on the young growing points of the shoots and round the stalks of apples clustered together, the writer has found it best to take advantage of the habit the beetle has of falling from the tree when disturbed, to catch and destroy it. To do this, obtain sufficient lining-boards and fasten together in a square large enough to cover the ground beneath the branches of your largest trees. The square should be in two pieces, with a notch cut out of each where the trunk of the tree will come. Give the boards a good thick coat of gas-tar, and the apparatus ready. Go to work by gently placing the tarred square beneath an inflected tree then give each main branch a good sharp shake. A forked stick will greatly assist in reaching the upper ones. Down will fall the beetles, and stick in the tar. Proceed in a similarmanner with the rest of the trees, in two or three days go over the orchard again, and a third time a little later. This will usually suffice to clear out the pest for the season. Small trees may be cleared by shaking the beetles into an inverted umbrella, and emptying them into old milk-pan, in which has be placed a small quantity of kerosene and water. Orchards which are kept well cultivated and free from grass and weeds suffer but little from this pest. —(L.H ) ‘ Another good plan, especially for

uneven ground, is to obtain a large sheet of stout material, cut a slit from the middle of one side, to the centre of the sheet, bind the edges of the slit strongly, and provide with strings or buttons and holes; fix an eyelet at each corner of the sheet; procure four pointed stakes with a hook at the top; place the sheet so that the stem of the tree will be at the bottom of the slit —i.e., centre of the sheet, then button the slit over; force the stakes into the ground, and lift a corner of the sheet to each hook ; then shake the tree, gather up the beetles, and tip them into a bucket containing water and kerosene. Fires in the orchard at night will destroy a good many of the bettles.’ —(T.W.K.) Where the plants are small they should be shaken over the milk-pan containing water and kerosene. This will save the labour of moving a sheet.