The South western news., 1888-07-18
THE COTTON WORM.

stated in few words.
The caterpillar comes from an egg
deposited by the mothy generally
on the side of the first or lower
leaves of the cotton weed. The eggs
hatchsln from two to eight days.
The caterpillers when small do very
little damage. They merely bur-
row into the under surface of the
leaf, leaving trace Of yellowish.
stain. These burrows may easily
be distinguished on account of
their form and color.
The worms make their appear.
ance (the first BROOD from May
until July, depending on the los
cality an 1 season. In Florida and
Southern Georgia they may come
as early as the first of May, while
in the northern part of the State
they hardly ever show up until
about the first of July. They are,
in the latitude of Macon, from three
to five generations of these cater
pillars, while on the Gulf there
may be as many as seven or eight
generations in single season. In
about three weeks the caterpillars
complete their growth and spin a
rude cocoon, frequently using a
rolled leaf for this purpose. In
another week the moth is released
from the cocoon and within twenty
four hours proceeds to deposit eggs
for the second generation. A sin
gle female moth may lay as many
as eight hundred eggs, and, should
they all go through the changes
without accident, it would be pos
sible for one moth to be the mater
nal ancestor of 10000, 100000 cat
pillars in a single season. Five
or six grown caterpillars on plant
would endapger the cotton crop.
Now, it is evident that war should
be vaged on the first or spring
brood of eaterpillars. The cotton
/ plants are then smalland the worms |
are more easily discovered. 1t also
takes much less faid to spray the
leaves at this time. The young
caterpillars are more susceptible to
TIE poison, and the destruction of
o; e worm at this early date may
I rtprcs mt the destruction of eight !
hundred month later, and more
than a million during the entire
season.
The poison should be applied to
the spot on achich the cote,pittors are |
FEEDING. 1t would be possible to
spray thousands of gallons of insect
icide fluid on the tops of the leaves
without destroying a single cater
pillar, while they are still young
and feeding on the under side of
the leaf. 1t is extremely difficult
to wet the under side Of leaf with
fluid applied from above, The pores
through which the plant respires
are generally on the under side OF
the leaf, and nature has so provided
as to protect them from being wet
ted from above. Then, the only
effective method is to apply the
spray to the under side OF the leaves.
Here must admit that no spray>
ing apparatus, with which | am &C
quainted, is perfectly adapted for
this work, but it is to be hoped
that the ingenuity Of some of our
inventive geniuses will contrive to
supply this want.
As to the poisons to be used,
large number have been suggested,
but the most effective, as well as
the cheapest, seems to be some
form of arsenic in solution.
An excellent fluid for the pur>
pose may be made by any one of
ordinary intelligence, as follows:
Arsenic, one pound,
Carbonate of soda, tour ounces.
Place these in a gallon of soft
water and boil until dissolved.
This gsllon of solution should
then be diluted with $50 gallons of
water and used as a spray applied
to the under surfaces of the cotton
leaves where the young caterpillars
are feeding. BY carefully watch.
ing the underside of the leaves for
the first appearance of the worms,
a small quantity of this fluid will
destroy them.
Paris green may be used instead
OF the above. One pound of Paris
green to about fifty gallons of wa
ter, and used in the same manner.