The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-09-19
THE ARMY WORM.

terest to most farmers.
Capt. A. B. Mulligan, of Spartan
burg, 8. O., recently sent a specimen
or the army worm (leaGcaniG eGlaipaGcta)
to. the Department of Agriculture at
Washington and received the follow
ing circular descriptive of the life and
habits Of the insect and remedies and
preventive measures:
There is never any demand upon
this Office for remedies for the army
worm until it is almost too late to do
any good. There are certain old time
measures which may be adopted to
protect certain fields from advancing
armies, like the ploWing of furrow
with it's perpendicular side towards the
field to be protected and the subse
quent dragging Of a log through the
turrow to keep the earth friable and
kill the worms which have accumu
lated in the ditch, and another is the
sprinkling Of a strip of pasture or field
crop in advance Of an army with Paris
green or London purple in solution. In
fields which the cRterpillars have al
ready entered there is little which can
be dore for their destruction which
does not also involve the destrC lion
Of the crop. The fields may be sprinkled
by means of a broadcast sprsyer with
an arsenical solution, or they may be
rolled with heavy roller il the ground
is level, or flock of sheep may be sent
in, which will result in crushing most
of the worms by trampling.
In the great majority of cases, how
ever, these latter measures are un
necessary, for the reason that nature
herself almost always takes a hand in
the reduction of the excessive numbers
OF the insects, either by unfavorable
weather conditions, or by the excessive
multiplication Of natural enemies and
parasites, go that il is extremely rare
that we hear of one army worm out
break Immediately following another.
n general, therefore, it may be said
that, as soon as the worms are discov.
cred to be exceptionally numerous in
a given field land, as a matter of fact,
they are at first almost invariably re-
stricted to the immediate neighbor
hood of some definitely limited. per
manent breeding place., all energies
should be devoted to the protection of
the surrounding crops by the means
mentioned above, and the destruction
of the worms in the fields first attacked
may be safely left to the last.
There are many localities in which
the army worm is never seen, or rather,
is rever known to be Injurious, and
these localities owe their exemption
undoubtedly to the unconscious use Of
preventive measures. Clean cultiva
tion, rotation of crops, cleaning up
of fence corners, close rasturage, the
burning over of waste grass land In
spring or fall are all preventive meas
urC Of great value, since, where these
methods are in vogue, the army worm
will never be able to get migratory
start, or, in other words, it never be
comes so abundant as to necessltate
migration.
Bearing in mind the fact that the in
sect breeds normally in rank grass,
such as is usually found along the
edges Of swamps mot in swamps, for
the insect must have comparatively
dry earth in which to pupate), or in
accidentally over fertiljz9d spots in
pasture lands, and it feeds normally
only upon true grasses, the farmer
who has once suffered from army worm
attacks may easily prevent its recur-
renee by winter burning or by rotation
and clean cultivation.
In cases where the worms have al
ready entered valuable field Of wheat
before the farmer has become aware Of
their presence and too late to render
ditching of any avail, come little good
may be accomplished if the majority
OF the worms are full grown, or nearly
full grown, by the old method Of
dragging the rope" Two men, each
having hold OF the end of the rope, are
sent all through the field, and the rope
is dragged over the heads of the grain.
The backward jerk of the stalks jars
the caterpillars to the ground, and they
are unable to ascend to the neads ain
for some little time. This is laborious
process, however, and has to be re
peated almost Immediately. 1t is only
to be undertaken where the number Of
worms in a field is comparatively
small and where these are, as before
stated, full grown or nearly full grown,
since in this case they will stop feed
ing and enter the ground in a 6RR or