Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/517

Rh at her tail, and deposits her eggs there, generally to the number of sixty.

Destructive as these insects, in their worm state, are to vegetation, they would be still more so, were they not destroyed by birds, and more especially , which devour them in great numbers. Half a century ago, they were so exceedingly numerous in the county of Norfolk, that they destroyed not only the verdure of the fields, but even the roots of vegetables. One farmer, in particular, was so much injured by them, in the year 1751, that he was unable to pay his rent. Many crops in that county, were then almost ruined by the devastations these insects committed, in their worm state; and, when they took wing the next season, trees and hedges were, in many parishes, completely stripped of their leaves. At first, the people brushed them down with poles, swept them up, and burnt them. , a Norfolk farmer, made oath, that he gathered eighty bushels; but their number did not seem much diminished, except in his own fields. Neither the severest frosts in our climate, nor even water, will kill them; as, on being exposed to the sun and air, for a few hours, they will recover, and resume their former lively state. One of the best methods to be adopted for preventing their transformation, is, to plough up the land in thin furrows, to employ children to pack them up in baskets; and then to strew salt and quick-lime on the ground, and harrow it in.

We have but an imperfect knowledge of the nature and history of the insect, called by the French Vinaigrieur, and of other scarabivorous animals, to avail ourselves of their labours. This, however, is clear, that if such insects as devour grubs, should take possession of the soil where cock-chafers abound, they must, in a short time, destroy immense numbers of the latter; and as they have five successive seasons to prey on them, till they attain their perfect state, they may be entirely extirpated, before one fly can be produced.

It is a circumstance well known, that the whole of the, and pie-tribes, are exceedingly fond of chafers, and particularly at a season when grain is scarce (i. e. from the end of seed-time to the beginning of harvest); they search for them with the utmost avidity. These sagacious birds, having observed that the leaves of such plants as are attacked by the grub, appear withered or drooping, during the day, they fly to them, dig for it with their strong bills, to the very root; and, if they do not find it, pull the plant itself out of the ground. It also frequently happens, that they mistake the drooping leaves of plants newly set, for those injured by grubs, and seize upon these; thus finding no prey, they strike their bills into the ground, at their roots, pull them up one after another, and, if not watched, do great mischief. Strawberries are particularly liable to the depredations of the grub; hence, sometimes, whole fields of strawberry-plants are spoiled by the rooks, immediately after they have been set. To prevent such devastation, it is necessary to guard them, till their leaves assume an upright position.

This damage, however, is but trivial, when compared with the real benefit occasioned by the rooks picking these vermin out of both,