This pest terminates the long list of troubles to which the tuber is heir. Remedy here is more certain, and in a short time the gardener can rid the soil of a large number of these grubs. The Wireworm is a light yellow, hard-skinned larva, which after three to five years passes into a pupa that eventually produces a beetle known as the Skip Jack or Click beetle. The damage wrought by the larva is extensive, and few roots that grow in field or garden come amiss to this voracious feeder. When Potatoes are placed in a " wire-worm" soil the results are disastrous, and very little can be done at the time in the way of remedy. The best procedure is thorough cultivation and the rigorous slaughter of every larva that presents itself. Rough digging will throw the soil open to the birds, many of which are fond of a wire worm diet. A dressing of gas-lime will also help to clear the infested soil of these undesirable pests.

Fig. 42. Wireworm.

A.-The Wireworm. B. -The Click beetle of which the Wireworm is the larval form.