Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-06-15
The Army Worm on Long Island.

The invasion Of Long Island by the army
worm is exciting serious apprehensions
among farmers The worms nave sur
rounded a large portion Of the island, and
are marching simultaneously from the east
ern end. the Sound and the sea, toward a
common centre. The advance guards are
already well into the interior, and there are
few places where they have not appeared.
The pest appears to be in the greatest num-
| hers on the south side of the island, in the
vicinity Of Islp, AmitySille, and Freeport.
| At the two former places many farmers have
| lost hundreds and some thousands Of dollars
worth of crops. The worms attack corn
field, and ruin it in single night; crawling
| to the end of the leaves, they devour them,
retrcating backward, thus making the work
of destruction complete. In the wheat
fields they climb to the top of the stalk, eat
the husk and boards, and then cut the head
off, leaving the bare straw to attest the thor
oughness of their work.
| ON the farm Of Brandish johnson, at Bay
shore, over twenty acres of wheat and oats
have been devoured. He estimates his loss
at S5. 900. Cabbages and fodder corn are
also selected by this army of eaters. Many
of the farmers have begun cutting their
grass and grain, although they are not suffi-
ciently matured, in order to save them from
destruction At Babylon, the roads
black with worms, and the sound of their
| advance through the grass can be plainly
heard. At Westhampton and Mattituck, the
worms are likened to the sands of the sea-
shore, and wheat, rye, corn, and grass fall
before them. At Northport, on the Sound.
the worms have appeared in large numbers,
and farmers are at their wits end to know
how to meet them. At Whitestone. Mineola
and Roslyn the insect army has appeared, and
only two miles south of Jamaica a fine piece
of wheat owned by Mr.. Allen, is covered
with them. Stephen Verity's rye fields at
Seaford are destroyed, and his neighbors'
grass and grain fields are also furnishing food
for the destructive worms. In Hampstead,
the insects have attacked the wheat field of
Coles Carman. and are at work on the farms
of Charles w. milford, Ebenezer Killem,
and others. East Wiliston reports the
scourge present in myriads, and sweeping
Ieverything before them except the clover
fields. The pest is also in Newtown.
Among the modes of fighting the worm the
most effective seems to be to dig a trench
with steep or over-hanging sides, out of which
the worms cannot escape. Here they are
crushed or burned by means of straw or
kerosene. Their depredations in grain fields
have been partially stopped by drawing a
rope broadsi,e across the field, this striking
| the heads of the grain and knocking the
worms off. One good quality of the army
worm is that it furnishes paatable food for
all the feathered tribe. Hens, ducks, crows,
robbins and other fowls and birds devour the
worms with avidity.
| The army worm is making sad havoc at
New Rochelle and along the roads leading
toward White Plains. Many farmers are
cutting their crops Of unripe gram with the
| intention of using the straw for fodder. as the
only way of saving the grain from complete
destruction. Potato bugs, currant bugs and
rose bugs are also proving very destructive.
Farmers have been trying almost every
remedy suggested without any satisfactory
result.