Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-06-08
prepared by Arthur j. Bill for Illinois
Farmers Instituted

Farmers Institute.)
Dr. ]. T. Folsom of the University
of Illinois spoke at the 1908 meeting
Of the Illinois Farmers institute upon
insects Injurious to Glover and AL
falfa." The following items are taken
from his talk:
The Glover Leaf Weevil-The first
injury from the clover leaf weevil is
seen the latter part of March in the,
form of little round holes in. the
clover leaves. On the ground under
the rubbish you will find little green
grubs curled head to tail; at night
they crawl to the plant and do the
damage. In June these grubs turn to
beetles and do more damage by strip
ping the leaves. This insect con-
stantly threatens the plant but rarely
does serious damage. In moist
weather fungus disease sweeps it
off like magic. If the grubs are pres
ent in alarming numbers in the
spring, cut the clover early, or pas
ture it little, or clip it back in May
or early June.
hC SiOfCl l<OuSe dlu lllt
The clover aphid is a big long
legged plant louise which often liter
ally crowds the clover plants late in
June or early in July, sucking the sap
from the clover. They multiply with
| fabulous rapidity. If the plants get
rain they often survive. This aphfd
has killed hundreds of acres of clover
in Illinois. They are found on both
the first and second crops of clover.
Their effect is a reduction of the vi
| tality of the plant as a whole. When
the plants are loaded with these lice
a single heavy rain will wash them
to the ground, kill nearly all of them,
and save the plants.
The lady bird beetles, and their ac-
Itive, bright-colored grubs, the lace
winged fly, The Sweat bees" and a
/ fungus disease are effective enemies
of the clover louise. If. from the num-
bers of the insect any damage is an
| ticipated, it is best TO cut the clover
early. If you wait until July and the
clover is loaded with lice the chances
are there will be no second growth,
Especially if drouth occurs. The
speaker saw so acres of clover thus
destroyed in DeKalb county in Au-
lgust, 1903 The insects are killed by
starvation; they are unable to go far
elsewhere for food when the clover
ldies
| The Seed Nudge Defeated by Early
lHarvesting-The worst of the seed
pests is the seed nudge, fly so small
that You may not have seen it. They
are abundant about May "a, when
the young green clover heads are
most numerous, and again late in July
and early in August. The eggs. bare
lily visible to the naked eye, are laid
ION the green lover heads. The eggs
hatch in three days and the grub de
YOURS the semi-fuid contents of the
lovary before the flower has been fer
Utilized.
All you need to do to save your
seed from the nudge is to cut the hay
|crop little earlier than usual, in this
latitude just before the 18th of June
Il You can even wait until part of the
lclover is fresh in bloom, but you
should not wait until many of the
lbeads have turned brown. You catch
these grubs in the, clover heads and
they are killed as the clover dies
Furthermore You hasten the maturit.
of the second crop of heads and by
the time the second brood of midges
! is on the wing the heads are - ripe
for them to lay their eggs in. A diff
ference of two weeks in cutting ma,
/ mean the difference between immun
lily on the one hand and complete in
festation by the nudge on the othel
hand.
!, DeKalb Field Demonstrates Rene
tidy.-The value of this carly cutting