Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-08-14
COTTON WORMS

And Other Disastrous Enemies to
the Fleecy Weed--An interesting
Chat With an Experienced
Planter.
Dnring the past two weeks reports
from various sections of the swamp
country have come in to the effect that
both the army and boil worms, as well
as grasshoppers, had made their ap-
pearance and threaten to devastate the
growing crop in the localities referred
to. Mr.. Mangum, agent and crop in
speetor for the house of Shattuck &
Hoffman, of New Orleans, who do a
large business in this immediate
vicinity, not only as planters them
selves, but in furnishing a number
OF other planters whose crop prospects
they have to keep posted in, in order
that they might temper their advances
accordingly, stated to a reporter Sun
day that the outlook in several locali-
ties was very gloomy. He especially
referred to two of the places Of his
firm, Reality and Good Intent, on Lit.
tie Deer Greek, where he says that on
Saturday last he discovered an iunu-
merable lot of small cotton worms
scattered generally over the fields.
He said they were too small at that
time to do any damage, but thinks it
will be but the matter of a
few days before they will wake
up some morning to find the
now luxuriant ,green fields brown
mass OF barren stalks and matured
bolls. He thought the reported she'd
ding of forms in many localities, and
attributed to excessive rain, had upon
investigation proven to be the result
of stings from the army worm millers.
These millerS light on the bulb of a
bloom and sting it. This sting causes
the bloom to wither and fall off, and
these millers do more harm than the
cotton worms themselves. One miller
will sting hundreds of forms in days
time: they fit from bloom TO bloom,
dwelling but a few seconds
on a form, but in that short
space Of time they succeed
in stinging the same, then suddenly
leave in search of other subjects for
destruction. The puncture at first is
scarcely discernable, but in short
while circle begins to form around
the dark speck, which resembles a
scald or frost blight and this gradually
enlarges until the entire bloom willis
and drops off. He has examined sew
eral fields where shedding has been re-
ported and invariably found this to be
the cause. He thought the appearance
of cotton worms equal in disastrous
effect to heavy frost on the same
day Of their appearance, and their ap-
pearance now will cause the crop
to fall far short of the present
estimate in the localities where
they have appeared. Mr.. Mangum is
using Paris green with sprinklers to
good effect, but says that Auditor S.
Gwinn has the only solvent extermi"
Rator yet introduced in the war on
worms. He has provided each one Of
his hands with pair of scissors with
which they, carefully looking over
each stalk, clip the worms, thus
effectually exterminating them as far
as they go. Mr.. Gwinn claims that his
hands have killed 1880 worms on
four acres.
Mr.. James Allen, of Claiborne
county, reports worms on his place, and
many of the Claiborne hill planters, like
those OF Warren and Kinds, report the
plant shedding badly.
In several places on Fish lake, in
Washington county, the grasshoppers
have appeared and are doing some
damage. These grasshoppers have
been increasing in numbers the past
few years. The first year there were
but few Of them, the second year they
come in greatly increased numbers,
succeeding in devastating one fifty
acre field, and this year they have ap-
peared by the million, though they are
not proving so disastrous as last year
MYSTERIOUS Robberles Unearthed.
KALAMAZOO, MICH, Aug. 10.--For
the past year gang of thieves have
terrorized Calhoun county by this