St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-31
THE ARnY WORM.
Bulletin from the Vermont Experiment
Station.

The Vermont Agricultural station
has issued newspaper bulletin No. 10,
which deals with the army worm.
1t isas follows:
Within the past few days numer-
Gus reports from several portions of
the state have been received at the
stations concerning the ravages of
an insect, which proves upon inves-
tigation to be the army worm. On
this account it has been thought
best to issue through the newspa-
pers of the state some account OF the
pest with suggestions as to RENE
dies.
The army worm is the immature
state of a moth often seen flying
about in the evening or night. This
moth is usually from one and one
half to two inches across the spread
wings. The general color of the
front wings is delicate gray-brown,
infinitely dotted with black, and
there are also two rather large spots
of reddish tint on each front wing.
The hind wings are thin and of
grayish tint. These moths lay their
eggs, some of them in the fall, more
in the spring, on the inside of folded
leaves of grasses or between the
sheath and stalk, on old hay or
straw stacked in fields, on old corn.
stalks, or if such places are lacking,
upon growing grain or grass.
Burton c. Austin, for two years gen.
eral secretary of the Brattleboro Young
Mems Christian Association, has re-
signed his position. He intends to enter
the general theological seminary of New
York city, where he has been appointed
by Bishop Slatterlee to the Charles
Dickinson Smith scholarship, which is
known as the most desirable scholarship
conferred. Mr.. Austin was formerly as.
sistant at the 23rd street Branch of the
New York association for twoyears, and
was later in the Springfield, Mass,
training school, coming to Brattleboro
i'll June, 1894. His work there has been
marked with success, and his loss to the
association will be keenly felt, as he has
endeared himself to the young men of the
town, as well as to the public in gen
eral..
When they first hatch the worms are
light colored and very small and for
some time afterwards they are very
inconspicuous and not likely to be
noticed. This is especially true be-
cause they usually live on sod where
they are concealed by the thick grass.
Here they may remain year after
unknown because unseen, but if
season is especially favorable for
their development they may increase
very rapidly and creep from the
grass to cultivated fields where they
are more noticeable. Hence they
Seem to appear suddenly every few
years, although they have been liv-
ing in the locality during the whole
time. Dry seasons are especially
favorable to the increase of this in
sect, and they are often unusually
abundant in a wet season immedi-
ately following dry one,
The full grown worm is from one
and one'quarter to one and one-half
inches long. The surface of the body
is smooth as ordinarily seen, though
a magnifying glass reveals scatter
ing hairs. The upper part of the
body is marked by rather compli-
Gated series of lines, and the whole
surface with a magnifying glass
looks speckled.
Along the back is a rather wide
band of dull black, shading on each
side to a grayish tint. Then, in sue
cession, there is, on each side, a mar
row black line, dusky, or blackish,
stripe, narrow white line, reddish
yellow band, white line, and, finally,
the greenish underestimate. This is
the color Of full grown specimen
which is before me as write, but the
distinctness and shading of the lines
and stripes vary in different individ-
uals, especially if they are of different
ages. The head is glossy, of a light