The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-05-31
In addition to the worms haircut plants


off near the ground there are other insects,
also called cut-worms, that do not fell
the plant, but climb it to feed. They
closely resemble the species already had
under consideration, and possess many of
their peculiarities, as, for instance, that of
concealing themselves just under the sur
face of the soil during the daytime. and
of coiling' up and remaining inactive after
having been unearthed
In the early part of the season orchard
lists often find the buds and tender leaves
eaten off from the tops of their young
trees-this is usually the work of these,
climbing cut-worms. They will go up
young tree to the height of eight or ten
feet, if necessary, for the purpose of work
ing this mischief, doing it all in the night
time, and seeming to care but little with
reference to the kind of tree made con-
venient for their operations; the grape,
the plum, the peach, the apple, the pear
and even the fig each furnishing them the
materials out of which to make hearty
meal. They do not confine their work to
the tree growths, however, but feed up
on all manner of field crops and garden
vegetables, climbing in all cases to get at
the tender leaves.
| we Shall not Jake lllllG 10 uCSCTlDe any
of these climbing cut-worms at present,
further than to state that they are all the
young moths or millers, most of which
closely resemble the moths of the other
association of species. The four most
common kinds are know to scientists re-
| spectively as 4erotis iuermiS, a. eocHya-
Mi, Il. scandens and Noctua clandestfna.
The natural history of most of our cut
worms may be summed up into single
nut she'll as follows. The parent moth at
taches her eggs to some substance near the
ground. These eggs hatch out in due
time, each giving forth a minute worm
which crawls into the ground and feeds
upon the tender roots of plants running
beneath the surface, or upon the very
youngest and very tenderest shoots rising
above it. They grow with considerable
rapidity until they have reached full size,
when they pass into the chrysalis state in
the ground, and, finally, are transformed
into perfect moths ready to deposit eggs
or the starting of new generation.
Entomologist are not agreed as to how
many broods there ale in a year, some
contending for but one and others for
more. 1t is our opinion that in the Gulf
States, at least, there are more. We have
| oSSi llIS JOuhS Willis VI oSfSioA VI liIS
species both in May and in September.
AS to remedies for this pest many are
proposed, but, as is usual in such cases,
only few are worthy of consideration.
Passing over the garden in the morning
and digging out the worms, as already
mentioned, is a good way to get rid of
them, but one scarcely practicable for the
culturist who is operating on large scale.
Another plan is to set fires in the field at
night for the moths to fly into and be de-
stroyed-of course this would be apt to
work at least some good. Another plan
is to set drugged sweets in the field for. the
moths to feed upon and become poisoned.
We cannot say as to whether or not this
would be worth the trouble Of trial
The sweets made thick enough to stick
the moths would, in all probability, dc
just as much good without the poison as
with it. A very good way to prevent the
worms from cutting up your cabbage
plants, and the like, is to wrap a green
leaf of some kind around the stalks or
setting them out from the nursery beds
The leaf soon drying and becoming hard
protects the stalk as the worm will not
cut through it. When the stalk has grown
large enough to burst off the leaf it will
be too hard and tough to suit the fancy
of the insects.