THE WIRE WORM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 160, 2 October 1880, Page 2

THE WIRE WORM.

To the Edjtob. Sir, —In a recent issue of your paper I observe a letter from Mr. Cameron, of Clunes, asking for r information as to the treatment for wireworin. -I have ■ seen', something of the wireworm and its different treatment in England. Hie worm is of a bright yellow color with a black head, is' the descendant of a small beetle, and usually eats the plant immediately below j the ■ surface of the ground. In turnip fields (children are often sent to dig up the .affected plants, and pick out the insect. As many as a bushel are often picked out of a field. A dressing of salt is not’ ah unusual thing, or the moving of the earth constantly, so that the rook can get at the beetle or the worm.' ’By growing 'a crop of peas or potatoes, the insect is carried off with the prod ice. The most effectual cure is a crop of mustard seed. In England the tenant farmer will often sow the mustard in the wheat patches affected, as he is not allowed to grow mustard as a crop. A few small patches in my district were affected last year, but after a heavy Cambridge roller had passed oyer the crop, the wireworm did little dr' no further damagek Hoping the roller may prove a cure in Mr. Cameron’s case.—l am, &c., i Lincolnshire. [Another correspondent also recommends the roller. He says a dressing ■of soot is an excellent thing, the almost impossibility of procuring a sufficient quantity of soot being the only difficulty. —Ed.]-‘- -