The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-12-21
Che Corn worm-Hablts and Remedies.

pest injecting corn-a worm
{ (Heliothis arnsigerG) which when fully
grown, measures about one and one-hah
inches in length, and found inside the
husk, at or near the tip of the ear, feed
ing on the kernels. Its presence Is usu-
ally indicated by q premature dying Of
the silk. Frequently several worms may
be found on the same ear, and when o
large proportion of the ears in q field
are infested the injury Is considerable.
The insect is well known and of world
wide distribution. But for some reason
the conditions this year in the Northern
States seem to have been unusually ia
vorable to its development, and It has
thus created much anxiety in localities
where heretofore its presence has hardly
been noticed.
The Southern planters are much bet
ter acquainted with this insect than are
our Northern farmers. To the men Of
the South it comes in the double role Of
the corn worm and the much-dreaded
boil worm. In many cases the heaviest
tax the cotton planter has to meet Is the
support of the boil worm. The amount
of injury caused to the cotton crop by
this insect is second only to the ravages
of the noted cotton worm, II it is not
really the greatest caused by any insect.
Certainly in the more northern portions
of the cotton belt, where the cotton
worm makes its appearance late In the
season, the injury caused by 1t is not
nearly so great as that of the boil worm.
And throughout the entire cotton belt
the boil worm is the one more dreaded
of the two. Fly
The intelligent planter knows that
when the cotton worm comes it may
be kept in check by the application Of
poison 70 the foliage of the cotton plant.
But the boil worm, working as il does
within the cotton pod or boil, as 1t is
called, is apparently beyond the reach
of such applications. I say apparently,
for, as I have shown elsewhere, the
newly Matched boil worm usually takes
its first meal from the foliage Of the
plant before boring its way into flower
bud or into a boil; and thus If the
foliage is thoroughly poisoned the crea-
ture's first meal is liable to be its last.
Observation has also shown that large
boil worms migrating from boil to boil
are frequently killed by eating poisoned
leaves.
While speaking of this insect Is the
boil worm, wish to again urge upon
the Southern planters the importance
of killing the spring broods infesting
corn as the best means Of preventing in
juries to cotton by the latter broods.
This is especially important in those
sections where corn and cotton are
planted in alternate rows. As the ear
her broods feed almost entirely on corn
either in the form of ssbud-worms, I"
ssear-worms' or sstassel worms" as
their presence may be readily detected,
and as they may be at that time easily
collected and destroyed, we have here
a means of protecting cotton, the i'm
portance of which am sure is not ap-
preciated by the cotton planters.
As corn worm In the North the
greatest injury was done this year by
the last brood of the season. Those
farmers who harvested their corn early
for canning purposes suffered but little,
while others in the same localities whose
crops were more backward lost heavily
by this insect. The number Of broods
passes in the course of year Ii not
definitely known, and probably varies
much in different localities and different
seasons. In Alabama there are usually
five broods each year, and occasionally
there may be six. In New York the
number is doubtless less. The duration
of the larva or worm state, according to
my observations, varies in the cotton
belt from eighteen to twenty-four days.
In the North it is probably greater.
When full-grcwn the larva enters the
ground to undergo its metamorphosis.
1t descends TO the depth of several inch
es; and there, in cell, the walls Of
L,oI ,<,1 - al
it changes to q pupa. The last genera
ton of the year remains in the ground
in the pupa state throughout the winter.
The adult insect is a moth which meas
ures about an inch and half from tip
to tip of its wings. The general color
of the body and front wings varies from
a light gray, tinged with olive, to q rich
yellowish gray. The insect Is figured in
all its stages in my report on cotton in
sects, and also in the abstract of that
report published in the report of the
Department of Agriculture for 1879. In
addition to the methods of destroying
this insect already mentioned, much can
be done in the North by fall plowing.
The experiments of Professor French
led him to the following conclusions:
$50 long as they (tbe pupe) were In
the smooth compartments they had
made for themselves, free from any
loose dirt that would become wet and
stick to them, they could pass the win
ter in safety, even though they might
be frozen; but, when the dirt was
packed closely around them and became
wet, and stuck to them, then freezing
killed them. Their holes, running cel1-
like as they do from the surface down
into the ground five or six inches, must
be broken up by plowing, and when
once broken up with the loose dirt
around them, the rains and the freezing
winter weather would have the same
effect on the chrysalides that moisture
and freezing had on those in the box of
loose dirt. Fan plowing, then, for
these reasons, will probably be the most
efficient means of destroying these in
sects; besides, IL done late enough, Il
will rid the ground of cutting worms,
etc."
Although / have spoken Of this in
sect only as feeding on corn and cotton,
it infests many other plants. II some
times does considerable injury by gnaw-
ing great holes in tomatoes, both ripe
and unripe; it also infests peas and
beans, piercing the pods and destroying
the contents. The larve are also re-
markable on account of the great varia-
ton in their color and markings. The
reader who consults the colored plate
in the report referred to above will find
five varities figured. These represent
only few of the more striking varia-
tions which have Observed Profess
sor J. Henry Comstock, Cornell Univer-
sity, in N. Y. Tribune.