Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-02
Cut Worms.

begin to appear in the onion or beet
beds of the garden until the corn in the
fields is IL foot high, or from the middle
of April to the last of June, or middle
of July, we are liable to hear complaints
Of the devastations caused by the cut
worm. Onions, beets, cabbages, corn.
beans. peas and potatoes are among the
favorite foods of this worm. and some
years they do a great amount of damage
to these crops. They would be more
endrrable if they would eat in an eco
nomlcal manner, but their habitfis, to
make their breakfast from the stems of
our plants eating entirely through Just
at the surface of the earth. and then to
go for another instead Of feeding upon
what they have already cut down. = -
Were men to cut down large timber
trees merely for the chips made II fell
ing them, they would only initiate the
method of the cut worm of our gardens
and fields. There seems to be some
confusion in the minds of farmers con-
corning these worms, quite different
species being designated under the COM
mon name of cut worm. The large
white grub, with a copper-colored head,
that lives upon the roots of grass in our
mowings and pastures, working about
an inch beneath the surface, aud often
causing much damage, is sometimes
called q cut worm. The same grub, or
one very nearly akin to it, has often
been serious pest in our straw berry
fields. They also eat the roots from
corn plants and potatoes, and late in
the season eat deeply into the potatoes
themselves. sometimes running large
quantities. These grtlbs are the Larvae
of the May beetle Or June bug, as it is
often called, that heavy, flying, brown
beetle, nearly an inch long and half as
thick, which come humping against our
windows in summer evenings. or, when
abundant, make as much noise among
the branches of our cherry trees as
swarm of bees.
Europeans call these beetles dor-bugs,
and they are very expensive insects to
feed, as the Larvae are some three wears
coming to maturity, and are hearty
feeders both in the larva and beetle state.
But our cut worm IS an entirely differ
ent insect. When fully grown. it is
about an inch and a quarter to an inch
and half long: of an ash-gray color,
smooth and greasy looking. and always
plump and fat; the skin also being some
what transparent, especially under
meath. The back shows numerous fine
lines. The mature insect is not a beetle,
but q moth, which LAYS its eggs in mid
summer, or early autumn, in the or,,ld.;
The young soon hatch, and feed on
grass or weeds until cold weather. when
they go down deeper into the soil
to spend the winter. Their work of de-
struction is title noticed in autumn, be
cause of the abundance of vegetation at
that season. but in spring, when plants
are diminished in number by tllame,
their attacks become more noticeable
- According to our observation. a field
or garden that is allowed to become
weedy in the fall, and is not plowed
until late in the following spring. will
be very liable to give, the tilltivator
much trouble from the work of cut
worms, while land that is Kept thor
Oughly clean through the Year by fire.
quent tillage, and by late fall and early
spring blowing. will rarely be infested
with these insects. Moving fields plowed
in spring for tillaGe are much more
likely to suffer from cut worms during.
June and July than if pIowed the fail
previous and thoroughly narrowed to
destroy all vegetation.
Parent insects know how to select
suitable places to deposit their eggs. as
also to avoid those where their progeny
would starve for want of food. Ere
Quent cultivation affords one of the
surcst safeguards against the rayages of
OF many species OF insects, especially
those which deposit their eggs in the
ground for Matching. We have been
able to almost entirely clean a farm
from crickets and grasshoppers by
raising crops in, close successons and
frequently blowing through the Year.
For destroying cut worms. when a
field or garden becomes infested by
them, we know of no better wav than
to search and kill. The worm eats ONLY
by night, crawling into the ground be-
fore day, at the root of the plant which
has been eaten off. By going over a
field Il few mornings in succession and
looking for the fallen or whiting plants.
and digging out the worms and killing
them, the larger part of the plants may
be saved. One who understands the
habits of the cut worm will be able to
predict as to what fields it will he found
in. and will plant his seed thicker, ac-
cordingfy. Crows and sktinks are said
to destroy cut worms. but we have
never yet seen any evidence of their
work III this direction. Toads may pick
up few. but it is very rare that the
worm can not be found by digging from
one to two inches deep, close to the
plant eaten otf.-New England Farmer.
-. Garget. = .,r
Garget, or more properly mainmitis,
is Il chronic Inflammation and hard
swelling OF the mammary glands The
term is often applied to- temporary
acute swellings, but it is hardly -appli-
cable to such cases. 1t originates from
two principal causes, one of which is a
too free use just before and just after
parturition of food which tends to stimu-
late the production of gland-cells, such
as corn meal. oil-cake cottonseed meal
or rich and succulent pasturage, all of
which fed literally at such a time f,al,sa