Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-06-17
PLANS FOR FIGHTING
PESKY White GRUB
Rotation of Crops; Deep PIOW-
ing Late in Fall
The May Beetle and Not the June
Bug Said to be the Author
of the White Grub.

Grant county has been effected
about the worst of any in Wisconsin,,
it appears, by the ravages of the
white grubs which have done many
thousands of dollars worth of damage
to cornfelds, pasture, strawberry
patches, etc. A great deal of dis
cussion has arisen as to methods of
discriminating or at least checking
the pests, but nothing very effective
has yet been offered. Rotation of
crops, and the turning of hogs into
the affected pastures where they can
root up the sod and eat the grubs is
about the best thing the scientists
have uggested-that and the
trapping of the beetles, as described
in these columns recently. The Wis
consin Agriculturist offers the fol-
lowing suggestions and comments
The common white grubs have
been known for some time as a serious
class of pests in Wisconsin; and we
have made little Roadway, as yet, in
in reducing their numbers. Though
last seasons total damage from the
white grub was not so great as that
of the previous year it was estimated
that the loss during 1912 was about
SIP, OOO,O 900.
Of all the states, Wisconsin was
hit probably the hardest that year the
damage to corn, timothy, potatoes,
strawberry plants, and other nursery
stock in Wisconsin, northern Illinois,
and eastern Iowa alone being at least
81, 100000. This was too great
loss to escape notice, and since that
time farmers, and scientific men as
we'll, have turned their attention to
means of fighting the pest.
The white grub itself is hard to.
get at. as its presence is not known
until the damage is done to. plant,
vegetable, or whatever is attacked.
During the dormant season, the grubs
go down in the ground deeper than
the ordinary depth of blowing and
come up again the following spring
to feed upon whatever there is to be
devoured. Their destructive work is
greater the second season after hatch
ing than the first. In 1912 this
year-old army of grubs did it's worst
work, and a repetition of their
ravages is expected in 1915, as it is
believed that the life cycle of the
grub and its parent, the May BEETLE,
is three years here in the northern
states. 1t is two years or less in
the southern sections of America ;
and in the Canadian provinces it is
usually four years.
The May beetle is not the same as
the green June bug that appears
later, through the habits Of the two
are very much alike. Neither is the
common white grub which is the
larvae of the May beetle the same as
the more harmless grub of the June
bug. The great fat blush grubs
which are seen IN the manure heaps
are not the same as the white grub
out in the fields, which do the damage
to the crops. 1t is believed that the
June bug grubs are comparatively
harmless.
Repeated deep blowing is about
the best way to diminish the number
of white grubs after they once get
into a field. If this is done late in
the fall, many of them are destroyed
by this means. A new plan is being
tried this season by the members of
the Wisconsin Experiment Associa-
ton. 1t is no less scheme than of
capturing few millions of the May
beetles by means of lights suspended
over tubs of water. We have not an
accurate list of the farms on which
this is being tried out; but are told
that there are good reports as to the
numbers of beetles destroyed in this
way.
Some authorities have been in
doubt about the success of any such
experiment, claiming that the female
beetles do not fly to any extent. If
this were true, it would indeed be of
little use to trap the male beetles
only. We have taken pains to get
the facts regarding this point and
have written to those who are in
position to know. Though rather too
early yet to get accurate or extensive
reports, we find that many thousands
of the May beetles were captured by
the field light plan, and Professor j
G. Sanders, our state entomologist,
ventures the opinion that more than
40 per cent of those destroyed are
the female beetles which are those
particularly wanted.
This rather disproves the state
ment made that the females do not