Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-03-04
THE COTTON WORM.
EIm Probable Appearance In Immense
Numbers this Year.

/ destructive to cotton and the enemies to
| these insects. A commission Of gentlemen
| qualified for the work have been engaged In
| investigations since 1878, and the result Of
their labors are extremely valuable and
/ throw good deal OF light upon what has
| been o Vexed question. It has been q Ques-
| ton until lately, whether a cotton worm
1 (known to entom0logists as AIetid AFQil-
Iacea) hibernated at all In the cotton States,
| or came up from the tropics. It is now def
nitely settled that it does hibernate In the
| perfect state las mothsl In the southern
| portions Of all the cotton States from Geor-
| gia to Texas, surviving the winter In pine
| forests, ia the cracks and erevices of cotton
| gin houses, and other places. Many have
| thought that they hibernated In the soil In
| the pupal stage, similar to the boil and cut
worms, but this has been proven to be erro-
/ neous.
| Fortunately for us, however, only a very
| small proportion of the fall Matched moths
| survive the winter. If all survived the Young
cotton plant would fall prey to the cater
| pillar In May and June, before a boil had
set, and consequently would make clean
sweep of it. In the wise provision of Prov
idence 1t becomes necessary that several
/ broods shall be Matched before they become
| iniuriousy abundant, and so 1t happens that
/ it is not until fall, or late summer, after
! cotton has set much of its fruit, that the
worms appear in great numbers. It Is likely
| to happen at times that the cotton worm
| may do little more good than harm, III
they should put In an appearance late in the
| fall and on late planted cotton their de-
| struction of the foliage causes the cotton to
| ripen more promptly and fully than 1t other
wise would. Admitting this, the cotton
caterpillar must be regarded, however, as a
great enemy, and to be annihilated If pos
sible.
It is not definitely settled as vet how
many broods there are in season, but It is
| either five or six. The first two or three
br0ods are not generally noticed by many
| farmers, as their numbers are not great
| enough to cause any noticeable damage.
AS single moth lays from four to six hum
dred eggs, 1t would not require many gene
rations to create the worms In sufficient
numbers to destroy cotton field In very
few hours. but again, fortunately for as.
Providence has designated numerous enc
mics to beset the path of the cotton worm is
| all its stages, from egg to moth. Some of
these enemies eat the eggs, some eat the
caterpillar, some are parasitic on the pupa,
the dormant stage, and again other enemies
destroy the perfect insect. So the life of
the cotton "worm" is not free from ankle
ty. Its road through life is beset with
many dangers. How many enemies there
are TO the cotton worm is not yet fully de-
termined, OF course, but such as are known
are too numerous to mention here. It Is
enough to state that birds, spiders, wasps,
and numerous beatles (chief among which
is the lady bug family, and flies, all have
hand Tor mouth rather) In keeping the
pest In check. The lady bug family proba-
bly, do as much towards checking the cater
pillar as any other family of insects. The
lady bug and It's larva constantly prey
upon the egg and laIva of the cotton worm.
In comprehending the nature and habits
OF the cotton worm, 1t Is necessary to I'M
derstand that It is a separate and distinct
insect from the boil worm, and besides this
It should never be called the sarmY worm"
This latter insect is peculiar to the grass
| family GRAIN and it is very incorrect to
speak of the cotton worm as the army worm.
The egg Of the cotton worm Is flattened
circular and ribbed, of blush green color
when first laid, changing to a dirty white
before 1t matches. 1t is laid on the under
side of the leaf, one In place, and gener-
ally about the middle of the plant Every
farmer ought TO be able to identify the egg.
The egg OF the boil worm is altogether unlike
that OF the cotton worm. Instead of being
fat, 1t is elongated, shaped somewhat like a
teacup and of delicate green color-about
the same color as the leaf on which 1t Is laid.
1t is not apt to be observed unless
close examination is made. Il know It will
be surprise to many to be told that the
boil worm of cotton, the corn worm and the
worm that eats into the green tomato, are
all one and the same thing, but It is now
understood to be fact thoroughly estab-
ltshed. In the tomato field the boil worm is |
the most destructive enemy to this Vegeta-
bic that we have. Every one that have |
grown tomatoes of late years no doubt have |
observed how injurious 1t is. The ''tomato |
worm' proper, does but little damage COM
pared with the boil worm.)
The egg of the cotton worm matches in |
from two to seven days, according as the |
weather is hot or cool, and the young cater |
pillars after feeding little on the leaf on |
which 1t was Matched, makes it's way to. |
wards the top OF the stalk. where the leaves |
are more succulent. The Dewly-hatched |
caterpillar is very minute, and not readily |
seen. 1t lives and grows for thirteen days, |
and webs up on the fourteenth day. They |
remain suspended in their pupa Tor |
dormant state) six or seven days in summer /
weather; longer in the cool weather of |
autumn. They then emerge as moths
their perfect stage. 1t will be seen that |
from the laying of the egg until the last |
Transformation it consumes about twenty
five days, little more or less, as the /
weather determines, or one brood per
month. The moths Immediately proceed to
laying their eggs.
In examining for cotton worm eggs, eggs
of other insects will be discovered on the |
cotton leaf. Two are especially noticeable:
One is the egg Of the lady-bug known as
hippodamia convergius. The eggs are vel
low and long, and are laid in patches and |
not single like those of the cotton worm /
The other is the egg of the '9ace wing fiy."
This once seen will always be remembered. |
1t is white and attached to a long delicate
foot stalk instead Of being laid directly on
the leaf. The larvae Of these two insects
are fierce and voiacious little creatures,
destroying eggs and caterpillsrs at a rapid |
rate, and are of course great friends to the |
cotton growers. As remarked before, there
are numerous other enemies, fortunately. |
In fact, entomologists state that even the |
caterpillar OF the boil worm oftentimes
destroys the cotton worm.
One remarkable feature of the cotton
caterptllars is their varied color at different |
stages. A casual observer would take them
to be different kinds of caterpillars, but
they are all one and the same thing. This
has not yet been accounted for by natural
lists, other than that nature was In one Of
her festive moods at their creation. It is
extremely probable that cotton growers vii
be called upon to fight vigorously the cater
pillar this year. Entomologists have de-
monstrated that since their first appearance
in 1873 that they have come In waves with
certain well defined premonitorY symptoms
that operates as guide In enabling them
to foreten the year that they are likely to
appear in destructive numbers.
The commission predict that they will
appear III Immense NUMBERS This Year-that
this is the climax year. Their last destruc-
tive appearance was In 1878, and the pre-
monirory symptoms of 1880 are similar to
those of 1872. It will be well to regard the
warnings given by the commission. While |
1t is possible that these calculations may
not be fully met, 1t is very. probable that
they will be, and it will be the part of wis
dom for our farmers to attach enough i'm
portance to them to be prepared to fight
them promptly this summer. 1t will be
well at any rate to lay by few dollars for
the special purpose Of buying the necessary
poison, IL 1t should become necessary to
use such an Objectionable remedy. IL the
money should not be needed for this pur-
pose, the farmer can but congratulate him.
self. and can spend the money on ''chro-
mo" If he chooses The use of arsenic In
the form of Paris green or s'London pur-
pie" is undoubtedly to be reprehended and
avoided IL possible In this land of poor
fences, but as these are the only remedies of
approved value, It may become necessary
to resort to them. Unfortunately the cot
ton plant is eaten by horses and cattle,
causing a difficulty that does not exist in
lighting the great foe Of the Irish potato.
would suggest, in view of the necessity
that may exist for using poison this year,
that every farmer take advantage Of every
wet day between now and summer and get
his fencing in a. good condition as posi-