Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-08
THE ARMY WORM.
WHERE HE COMES FROM, WHERE he
GOES TO, AND HOW TO KILL HIN.

GokS ~, AND HOW TO KILL HlM.
Regarding the army worm on the River
side road there is no new development. The
army " is not unusually large, and the farm
ers have successfully Aanked it and 'ditched .
it in. About two weeks ago the worm ap-
peared near Florin, but only in sparse num-
bers, and have not proven troublesome. From
other sections of the county comes news of
the appearance OF the invader" but no.
where in great numbers, the Riverside
road invasion being the only for
midable one. 1t is to be noted
that the worm has been very destructive at
the East, and has been the subject of scien-
tiic investigation. Professor Comstock, the
entomologist of the Agricultural Department
at Washington, visited the ravaged sections
in Delaware, New York and Connecticut.
He gives long account of the worm, from
which we condense as follows;
THE WORM.
The adult insect is night. flying moth of
dull brown color, marked in the center of
each fore wing with distinct white spot.
and with an expanse of wing of little over
an inch and three quarters. The egg is
white, and almost perfectly spherical its
average diameter is .023 of an inch. The
moth deposits her eggs in the folds of leaves
of grass or grain, nearly always concealing
them from sight by pushing them down in
the enfolded portion of the leaf, or by ce-
menting the edges of the leaf together over
them. The eggs may be laid singly or in
rows, which sometimes contain as many as
fifteen or twenty. The duration of life in
this stage varies from fifteen to thirty days
or more. When full grown the worms bur-
row for an inch or more in the ground, and
there transform to pupal.
HIS GENERATIONS.
The number of generations in a season
varies greatly with the climate. There are
normally two broods in Northern Illinois
and probably three in the more southern por-
tions of that State. Professor Riley has DEM
onstrated two broods normally and three
broods exceptionally in the latitude of st.
Louis. Further south. during winters of I'M
usual mildness, succession of broods is kept
up through the entire year. During the
present winter 1S79 SOY we have received
full-grown worms, with accounts of damage
to winter grain in the months of December,
January and February from localities as far
north as Union county, South Carolina, and
Marion county, Tennessee. OrdiHarily, how
ever, in these States, and always further
north, the insect lies dormant through the
winter months.
WHERE HE LIVES.
It passes the winter both in the moth, and
chrysalis state, the former being more com.
mon in the southern part of the country, and
the latter in the northern regions. As the
weather becomes warm in the spring, the
moths emerge from their pupal cases or their
alternating quarters, and lay their eggs. The
duration of the egg state is from eight to ten
days. In 1879 eggs deposited ON clover in
Washington Matched about May 10th. The
natural habitat of the army worm was stated
by DIR. Fitch to be :" in the wild grass of wet
spots, in swamps, and on the borders of
and in this statement he has b zen
followed by nearly all succeeding write -
CAUSE OF HIS APPEARANCE.
The question then naturally arises, What
is the cause of these sudden and ex-
tensive periodical visitations to cultivated
crops? DIR. Fitch observed that the year 1861
was very wet, while that of 1860 had been
extremely dry On examining the records he
found that in previous worm years the season
IN which the worms appeared was wet while
the preceding year was dry. He therefore
the theory that in dry season
this insect, having an unlimited extent of
feeding range, becomes greatly multiplied,
"and, when it is thus multiplied, wet
season and overfowed swamps drive it out
from its lurking place in focks, alightiug here
and there over the country. But, on being
thus rusticated, it finds our arabic lands too
dry for it. and, Immediately on maturing and
getting its wings again, it flies back to the
swamps, whereby it happens that we see no
more of it"
REMEDIES FOR THE INFLIcTIoN.
IT the theory just quoted be true, the best
means of preventing the occurrence of this
pest in the cultivated fields will be to keep
watch Of any extensive tracts of low land
which may be in the neiehborhood, and if
army worms are discovered, destroy them
either by burning over the land if possible,
or by poisoning with arsenic, Paris green, or
London purple, or by any other means of
which the local conditions will admit. In
fact, it would be we'll to burn over all the
low lands in the vicinity each winter, thus
destroying the alternating insects. / do not
feel implicit confidence, however, in the
above theory, as l have observed the army
worms feeding in small numbers in meadows
on high lands, where their presence there
could not be explained by the reasons given.
Moreover, from what data I have been able
to obtain while preparing this article, it ap-
wet one in those localities in which the army
worm has appeared, thus failing to confirm
the theory. 1t is worthy of note, however,
that in most instances the localities infested =
by the worm this year are In the vicinity of
extensive tracts of low land. l am carefully
evidence on these points, and will
publish the results as soon as practicable.
HOW TO STOP THE PEST.
In case the worms do appear in cultivated
lands the best plan of action to follow is to
may be done by destroying them or by con-
fning them to the fields in which they ap-
pear. Tie best method of destroying them
is by crushing with rollers or by poisoning
with arsenic Paris green or London purple.
Either of these substances can be applied
rapidly by mixing with water and using
fountain pump or garden syringe. In many
instances. however, these remedies are i'm
practicable. The second line of defense re-
mains, and if well carried out the result will
not merely be the confining of the worms to
the fields in which they appear, but the de-
struction of them also when they attempt to
migrate to other fields. This is done by the
means of bitches and pits dug around the
infested field, or that to be protected.
The bitches can be made quite rapidly.
First plow furrow with the land side F"
next to the field to be protected, and
then with spade make this side of the fur
row vertical, or if the soil be compact enough
to admit of it, overhanging. When the ditch
is completed holes should be dug in it from
one foot to eighteen inches deep, and from
twenty to thirty feet apart The sides of
these holes should also be vertical, Or if pos
sible, overhanging. The worms, unable to
climb up the vertical side of the ditch, will
crawl along the bottom of it and fall into the
holes, where they will soon perish. Where
the soil is sandy, so that the ditch cannot be
made with vertical side, it should be dug
deeper than in other cases, and the sides
made nearly as perpendicular as possible, SO
Shat when the worms attempt to crawl up
the sand will crumble beneath them and
cause them to fall back again.