Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-22


1t is the larva or young of small
moth or miller, with orange colDTed
body and olive brown wings; that is the
wings incline to that color, though the
front pair are lighter and more or less
Transparent in appearance. The hind
most pair of legs are peculiarly marked
by rather long orange colored and
blacklist hairs. Is not so large as ths
cotton worm moth and is more slender
in its general makeup, presenting al
most waspish appearance.
Early in morning or late in the even
ing this little moth flies among the vines
and deposits oval-shaped, reddish look
ing eggs on the main stem of the plant
usually not beyond two or three feet
from its connection with the ground.
In from four days to one week these
eggs hatch out minute worms, which at
once bore into the vine. The worm
grows rapidly until, when near full size,
we have notice of its presence by observ-
ing a sudden willing of the entire plant.
Without very careful looking this will be
the first hint received of the insect g
work, and then it will be too late for the
application of a remedy-the plant will
die. If, however, by close observation
we have discovered that n borer Is i'll the
vine, having seen its cutting as cast out
from the point of entrance, and the vine
is not yet wilted, We may sometimes
save the plant by splitting it length
ways with sharp knife, and removing
the ''grub, - though the chances of sue
cess are by no means good.
The worst feature connected with ths
work of this insect lies i'll the fact that we
are not apt to know anything about its
lot no
ton of a remedy. The only hope, there
fore, lies in some kind of preventive to
be applied to all the plants ut an early
stage of their growth, without waiting
for finding out that there is to be any
infection. The New York experiment
station has been trying TO work up some
thing in this line, and @ late bulletin of
the station says Paris green was mixed
with water at the rate of half tea
spoonful to two gallons and the mixture
carefully applied with hand sprinkler
over all the stems for distance of two
feet from the base of the plants. The
result of this remedy was that there were
eight plants affected by the borer 70
twenty three affected plants on the
same number of hills not treated at all.
1t was further noticed that all these
bOrers had worked above where the Paris
green had been applied. so that really it
had proved entirely effectual where it
was applied. Should anyone desire to
use this remedy, three things will have
TO be kept in mind, viz: sprinkle the
vine at least three feet from the base of
the plant; do not make the solution
stronger than the one gwen here, as it is
apt to injure the plant, and repeat the
application after every hard rain so long
f,,lp g no "a
quire it. We suppose London purple
would answer the same as Paris green,
though the quantity should be double
that recommended for the latter. The
trouble with such an application would
rest in our inability TO always get the
poison on the underside of the vine-the
portion most likely to be attack ed by the
borers.
In our opinion very thin flour paste
made up like starch for starching clothes,
though thinner, would be better than
the clear water, as it would longer hold
the poison or the vines and do away with
the need of such frequent application.
The same station experimental with
gas tar into which corn cobs had been
dipped. The dipped cobs were placed
on the ground about the vines, and it is
claimed that the effect, though not per-
feet, was decidedly good. OF course the
gas tar does not destroy the insects as in
case of the poison, but the superstition is
that its strong odor acts as a repellant,
the moth from stopping in its
to deposit her eggs. While
the New York station used corn cobs,
they were not specially necessary-any-
thing calculated to hold the gas tar and
prevent it running off into the soil would
have acted equally as well.