Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-06-12
Reported for the Journal.
THE BUD WORM.

1
Read Before and Publishod by Request of
the Rocky Point and Spring Garden Far
mer's Club.
To The Rocky Point and Spring Garden Far
nae1''s Club -
GENTLEMEN : Being on a committee ap-
pointed by the Club "to investigate the
habits, nature, metamorphosis, &C., of the
bud worm, and if possible, from the know
ledge SO obtained, or by any other means,
discover some method of destroying it, or
preventing its ravages." [ thought few of
the conclusions thus far arrived at might
not be cut of place before the Club to-
day.
All oar farmers know by sad experience
how destructive this pest is to the corn
lcrop and it is no exaggeration to say that
this worm, feeble and insignifcantas it is,
with a single instinct bent on mischief,
does more harm than all other casualties
and pests put together-than all the SPUR
lrels, raccoons, crows, unfavorable seasons,
and rogues, too, if you please, without
''distinction Of race or previous condition. ="
And it is very strange how little farmers,
or even scientific men, have done to ferret
out this destroyer, and stop the ruin which
it brings. nogues are punished at heavy
iexpenso to the public, yet no outlay is
made to stop the mischief done by this
worm, and many poor, needy wretch has
Iexpiated his offence at the whipping post,
who had not done the farmer II 1.-THE of the
injury caused in one season by this little
mlscreant.
What [ wish to impress on the members
is, that the subject is of sufficient impor-
taIce to call forth all the powers OF inves-
tigation that any Of us possess, and that
whoever discovers the end aimed at, will
become, indeed, a benefactOr of his race.
Such one will save millions of grain an
nualiy for the farmers, besides other use
fui crops for the corn crop is not the only
one injured by this pest [ have found it
quite impossible to get stand of water
melon or cucumber vines this Spring, on
account of the bud worm. [ also found this
worm very injurious to the Irish potatoe
crop, iniuring the tubers, and sometimes
destroying the plant before it gets through
the ground. [ saw crop of spring tur-
nips belonging to Mr.. William s. Hines,
nearly ruined by it. [ have PRESCRIBED spe
cinaens OF the above plants here to-day,
most of them containing the worm, and
showing it's method Of destroying them,
which the members can examine.
All Of you, [ suppose, have seen the bud
worm-a small, bright, yellow worm, about
a half inch in length at maturity, slender
in form, tender to the touch, and very easily
crushed, with a black CAP on each extrem-
ity. It would be difficult to tell the head,
were it not for the direction given to its
movements. It's motions are not quick,
nor spiteful, and of all the worm tribe, it
lappears to be among the feeblest.
[ found few hills OF corn destroyed by
the bud worm this Spring, as early as the
middle of April, and by the last of April
it had become very destructive. More
than one-half of my little corn crop was
destroyed by this date. Until the Goth of
May its ravages continued unabated and
replanting corn up to this time was worse
than useless.
Late in April planted a half dozen
grains of corn in a jar, with view to some
experiments with the worm. As soon as
the corn was up well [ placed dozen
worms in the jar with the corn. The first
night they cut every stalk. Ten days later
[ examined the contents Of the jar and
found the most of them considerably adj
vanced in the pupe Or chrys0lis state The
wings, legs and even eyes were distinctly
formed, and the general outline Of the in
sect was visible. They we're then in
STATE of rest and had stopped eating and
no doubt did so soon after they were placed
in the jar. On May Goth, I saw Mr.. Hines
turnip crop, where thousands might have
been collected; many Of them were sticking
IN tie rind Of the turnipS many of them
seemed, also, to be entering the chrysalls
state us might be seen from their some
what shortened and distorted appearance,
and from the fact that they were sometimes
found coiled up in little burrows, Or cells,
formed around them in the ground. Eight
days afterwards I went to Mr.. Hines and
found them all changed to chrysalides.
Scarcely worm could be found
| It may be seen from this how liable farm
ers are to be mistaken in the effect of
means used to prevent or destroy the worm.
| Often the farmer is led to suppose that he
has discovered preventative for the bud
worm, when, in fact, the worm has not
been interferred with, but has only adj
vanced grade higher in the scale of it's
existence.
But what does the worm turn to, and
has anything really valuable been learned
about it Z? l have several chrysalides or
pupes, as they are sometimes called, here
to-day, and the members can judge for
themselves, as we'll as [ can, what is to be
|
the height of the knee joints, should say,
it belongs to a hopping tribe of some sort
and as was suggested at the meeting when
the committee were appointed by our
worthy President, and my friend DR.. Lane,
I think small grasshopper will probably
be the finishing touch.
But the great question after all is, how
shall we best escape the mischief caused
by this destroyer. And before the best
answer can be given to this question it
may be necessary to learn more about the
habits and natural history Of the worm
than is now known. It is first of all neces-
sary to know in which state it is most easily
destroyed whether in the egg, the worm,
the chrysalis, or perfect insect. My ex-
periments so far have been all confined to
the worm.
Much, think, however, can be accom-
plished by taking advantage Of the habits
of this worm. Most farmers contend that