The Bossier banner., 1891-10-15
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE BOLL-WORM

A Condensed Essay on the BolI-" orm
Taken from Bulletin Issued by the
United States Department of Agricul-
turs.
From the very able and comprehen-
sive Bulletin No. 24 of the United States
department of agriculture, we condense
the following:
The first food of the worm is the egg
shell from which it has just issued. No
sooner is the young larva fully out of
its young shell than 1t crawls away
once or twice its length, turns around,
and eats the shell either entirely or but
a portion of it. This done it crawls
about for short time until it finds a
spot suited to its taste, usually first
spreading a few threads of a frail web.
Under this the worm feeds on the cpl
dermis of whatever surface it may have
selected Often they crawl but short
distance, drop themselves down by a
slender thread until another surface is
struck, when they crawl away as before
and begin feeding.
Before the first molt the larvae feed
principally outside the young forms and
squares on whatever surface they may
be when Matched. At about the time
of the first lnolts, or soon thereafter,
they begin seeking out the forms, bios
SONS and squares, and begin their de-
structive work of boring into them. 1t
must be stated, however, that from the
first few may be found to go directly
to small form or square and either
boring through the lnvolucre and
thence into the blossoms or fruit or
else first crawling between the in
volucre and fruit and then boring into
the latter. Often, too, they at first
simply hide behind the involucre, eat
ing the epidermis from the inside and
boring into the fruit later. Preferring
the tender growing portions of the
branches, the younger worms, after
finding them, secrete themselves in the
opening clusters of leaf and flower buds
and begin boring.
Their first feelings upon the leaves,
whether on the upper or lower surface,
are principally confined to the epider-
mis- About the time of the first molt
they begin to eat small holes through
the leaves. This is not continued long,
however, as at this time the worms be-
gin their search for the forms and
squares. During the younger period
the worms feed most on the reproduc-
tive organs or young forms, or such as
are nearly grown and opening. Some
time later, after about the second molt,
they begin boring more plentifully into
the larger bolls. The older worms,
while feeding principally in larger bolls,
do not cOnfne themselves TO them, and
are often found devouring a form or
opening blossoms. Due to their choice
of food (speal1ing only of the bulk, the
younger worms are found mostly on the
younger, tender-growing portions of the
cotton plant, and the more nearly
grown ones on the more mature por-
tions For a change the full-grown
worm sometimes feeds on leaf or eats
through the green stem of newly
formed branch. Stems which were
$3.50 inch in diameter, and having
above them a number of forms, have
been observed to be eaten nearly
through by them. A day or two after
the branch would be found wilted or
nearly broken off.
The habits of the worm, as to the
manner in which boil is entered and
the extent to which it feeds upon the
same after it has entered, are also
rather'variable. The worm may pass
in behidd the involucre and bore into
the boil from the inside, or it NAV
choose to do so from the outside, eating
through the involucre and then into the
boil. The hole is usually bored from
the bottom and passes toward the apex:
frequently. however, the hole is about
midway of the boil and passes straight
in. As the worm thus feeds on the in
side of the boil it may pass straight to-
ward the apex, devouring only the sec
ton of the fruit which it has entered
and then retreat and attack another
boil, or 1T may bore through the parti-
tlon into a second section, devouring it,
or the passage of the worm NAV be
slanting one from the first, in which
case two or three sections NAV be en-
tered before retreating. The worm sell
dom continues until it has DESTROYED
all OF the sections of the boil, though
the remaining sections are made worth
less by the decay which arises and
spreads from the injured portions.
The motion which some planters
have that the worm eats in at one point
on the boil and passes out at another is
wrong, for if it does so it is certainly
the exception. Occasionally, however,
there are two holes in a boil similar to
those which the boll-worm makes and
indeed the boll-worm has been the cul-
prit. Observation, however, has proven
that the boll-worm occasionally begins
boring at one point, eats into it but a
short distance, retreats, and begins
second hole at another point on the
same boil. Sometimes, also, two worms
are found attacking the same boil,
which, when they have finished and
left, it appears as if the worm had
entered at one point and passed out at
another.
1t is further believed by some that
the boll-worm travels only at night and
feeds only late in the afternoon and
evening. Concerning both IL 1nust he