The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-05
The Cotton Worm.
BY PROF. CHAs. v. RILEY.


in the city from which / hail. Few
things were more characteristic Of that
reunion of the friends of agriculture
from different parts of our broad land
than the large representation from the
South, and the mutual good viii and
cordial fellowship which reigned on all
| sides. There was manifested due ap-
probation Of science in the honor paid
to one who did much to make us mas
ters of the elements, and whom we all
sorrow for as having since left us for
that world which knows no sectional
strife nor brOtherly feud. There was
also manifested a strong desire to pro-
fit by one anOther's experiences, and it
is for these reasons that I am led to
offer to the members from the South q
suggestion which may prove of little
service, or, per contra, of utmost
| value.
Some of the Northern States have
been sufficiently wise and prOvident to
appoint officers whose duty it is to study
the insect pests, and suggest remedies
for their ravages ; but in the South no
| such officers yet exist. You are, in con-
sequence, entirely at the mercy of this
apparently insignificant worm; and it is
a matter Of surprise that, where the
| losses are so heavy, some efforts
| have not been made to get the mastery
| over the pest by delegating some indi-
| Vldual or commission to make thorough
Investigations and experiments upon it.
| Up to the present time no really practi-
| cable remedy has been discovered. Hand
picking is not wholesale enough. Fires,
lights and traps containing attractive
| but pOisnOus sweets, together with 9th
er devices intended to allure and des-
troy Che parent moths, are of little use,
except where they can be generally en-
ployed throughout the whole districts
and this implies an amount of intelli-
pose, rarely if ever, found in any farm
| ing community. Carbolic soap has
failed to fulfill the hopes and prophecies
of its advocates. Now it has never been
my fortune to experiment in cotton
field, but from my experience with in
secticides in other fields, feel quite as
sured that by proper use of Paris
green the cotton worm may be mastered.
In the so-cal1ed Northwestern States,
as you are doubtless aware, we have
been sorely troubled, during the past
decade, by the Colorado potato beetle
(DOTyptOTG re HneGtG), an insect which
effects the potato very much in the
same way as the cotton worm effects
the cotton plant; but from which it is
not likely that you Of the South will
ever suffer. We manage to subdue and
destroy it by proper use Of the mine
raj mentioned, and from my expert
ments upon other leaf devouring worms,
many of them belonging to the same
family as your cotton worm, am sat
isfed that this last will succumb to the
mixture | propose even more readily
than does the potato beetle.
Paris green, or Scheele's green, con-
tains varied proportion Of .arsenious
acid, and it is a deadly poison; but the
manner in which it may be used to coun-
teract the cotton worm, renders it per-
fectly harmless. If the green is pure,
which can be ascertained by the bright
ness and intensity of the color, it NAV
be mixed with thirty parts of -four,
plaster, Stacked lime, or ashes, and still
be thoroughly efectual. The least pos
sible dusting of the mixture upon the
points will be the means of destroying all
the worms upon them, without. the least
injury to the plants themselves. The
green should never cost more than
twenty five cents a pound, at wholesale,
and thirty pounds Of the mixture will
suffice for several acres. 1t is best
busted on the plants early in the morn
ing, while they are moist with dew.
It may be busted in various manners,
and some persons, in fighting the pota-
to beetle, have found an old sleazy sack,
such as those used for table-saft, to do
good service, when attached to the end
of a stick. It is most safely applied,
however, by aid of perforated tin box
attached to the end of stick three or
four feet long. Such box can be made
.oG "A INAa at,Sry II
busting suffices, and, by taking the
and then tapping the box with another
stick held in the right hand, one can
walk rapidly along the rows and regu-
late the amount sifted. The green can
not be well mixed with the -four or
plaster except by the aid of mill,
and it is for this reason that those who
mix in large quantities have the advan-
tage, It is most efeetual when mixed
with -four, though plaster has the merit
Of cheapness. Believing firmly that in
this mixture we have q chean and
available antidote to the cotton worm
plague, | am anxious to give the sug-
gestiOn as wide o circulation as possible,
in order that it may be thoroughly tried
and reported on the coming summer,
and | will conclude this short paper
with the natural history Of the cotton
worm, very much as given in the Sec
ond report on the Entomology Of Mis-
souri,:
The cotton-worm (onomis xylina)
was first scientifically described by
Mr., Thomas Say, in the year 1897. Ac-
eording to DIR. d. L. Phares, of wood
vile, Miss, it destroyed, at o low, esti-
mate, 300 tons of cotton in the Raha-
mas as long ago as 1885, while in Geor=
gia 1t completY destroyed the nn in
1T95. According to DR.. Capers its in
juries were noticed in 1900, and it like
1895 and 1895. Since the last date, as
we may learn from old volumes of the
American Farmer, of Baltimore, Mary
land, from the Patent Office Reporfs.
and the writings of TOwnend Glover
of the Department of Agriculture, ithas
done more or less damage to the crop
almost annually in some part or other
of the cotton growing district. AS with
the real gTass=feediag army worm of
the Middle States, it sWarms I'M Daptic-
ular years to such an extenta as to utterly
ruin the crop, while in other years it IL
scarcely hoticed. This fact has led
many to infer that there is stated ne
riodlcity IN its returns I'M such immense
numbers but the natural history of the
worm confutes such an idea, while the
records give no foundation for the In
ference. The sudden increase or de-
crease of this as of other species of nOx-
ions insects, depend on climatic as well
as other equally potent influences.
The egg, according to Dr.. PhaPes, Ia
shaped precisely like q scull-cap, With
rows OF pin heads from base to anex,
as thickly set as possible y appearing as
If nodded IN a very deep saucer. These
eggs are of q transIneaEt anaaal cnlna.