ENEMIES OF CLOVER
“Would you like to see another little creature that by reason of its
very smallness and its countless numbers braves our wrath and commits
ravages that can be checked only by our agricultural helpers, the foes
of our foes? Here it is.”
“I see it, with its long beak,” cried Jules; “it is another weevil.”
“Oh, how tiny it is!” exclaimed Emile. “Surely it can’t eat very much.”
“It is small, but so numerous that to feed its larvæ it requires whole
fields of clover; not the entire plant, but only the blossom, as with
the larvæ of the flower-weevil.”
“What gluttons! They think they must have blossoms, tender and
sweet-smelling.”
“It is the clover-weevil, and it measures scarcely three millimeters in
length. The body, of a uniform black, is slightly globular behind. You
know clover well enough, with its blossoms massed in a round head.
Well, the clover-weevil lays its eggs on the flower-head before the
blossoms open.”
“Without boring into each flower separately to lay its eggs in?” Jules
inquired.
“The weevil does not take that trouble. The larvæ must manage for
themselves. As soon as it is hatched out each one pierces the base of
the flower that suits it and works its way inside. Once there, it eats
the heart of the bud, especially the part that would have become fruit,
the little pod with its seeds. That done, it takes on its insect form.
“Another weevil, equally small and equally numerous, runs neck and neck
with this one in destroying clover blossoms. It is black, with yellow
legs. Both abound in cultivated fields. In winter they can be found
gathered at the foot of trees, waiting for the clover to bloom before
they go to work.
“You might think these two weevils enough to destroy this useful forage
plant; but there are others still, some larger and some smaller, and
all eager to get at the poor clover. It would almost seem as if insects
had agreed to attack especially those plants that are useful to man.
They set to work, by threes, by fours, by tens, and even by hundreds if
need be, to carry out their ruinous operations, some on the flowers,
others on the roots, and still others on the leaves and stems of our
most valuable plants. The grapevine has its caterpillars, beetles, and
lice; wheat feeds destroyers still more numerous and varied, such as
weevils, moths, white worms, gnats, and many others; and for the
pear-tree alone we can count five hundred ravagers, perhaps more.”
“Do they want to starve us, then?” Jules again inquired.
“What shall I say? They go to work in a way to frighten one. You ask
their motive. I will try to show you some other time; but now let us
finish our talk on the enemies of clover.
“This one, here in my hand, is known by the learned as the
clover-hylast. It is a tiny brown beetle with truncated wing sheaths
like those of the bark-beetle, which it closely resembles. In fact it
belongs to the same family. While the clover-weevil is busy destroying
the blossoms, this creature stays in the ground and gnaws the roots of
the plant.
“We have now the roots, the blossoms, and the young shoots devoured.
Who will look after the leaves? ‘I,’ replies a little beetle with a
rounded back and a flattened stomach, and called the globular lasia; ‘I
will do it so that man shall not find anything to mow after we get
through with the clover.’
“You are familiar with the ladybird or ladybug, that little red beetle
with tiny black spots on its back, the good God’s insect. Never molest
it when you find it in the garden. It works for us, going from one
plant to another, devouring lice, those pot-bellied creatures that in
countless swarms infest the tender shoots of plants and suck the sap.
The ladybird eats our enemies, plant-lice; it dotes on them. Do not
disturb it.
“The insect known as the globular lasia is of the same family as the
ladybird, and like the latter it is round and red and has black spots,
but they are placed differently and usually number about a dozen on
each wing sheath. The larva is yellow and all bristling with little
hairs that stand up like tiny thorns. Both the larva and the mature
insect live, not on lice, but on leaves, whether of clover, vetch,
lucerne, or some other plant. The marks they make on the gnawed leaves
look like furrows made by a four-toothed comb.
“Finally, who is to take in hand the stems of the clover? This task
will fall to various caterpillars equipped with good teeth and strong
jaws, as for example the glyphic noctua, a rather pretty moth with
upper wings bearing irregular spots encircled each by a light-gray
thread on a brown background, and lower wings brightly spotted with a
light shade of yellow.
“On every part of the clover, on stems and blossoms, leaves and roots,
ravenous devourers are now installed. Have I exhausted the list? By no
means. There are others in plenty, if only to take the leavings of
those I have named.”