Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-08-30

field crop in advance of an army with
Paris green or London purple in solu'
ton. In fields which the caterpillars
have already entered there is little
which can be done for their destruc-
ton which does not also involve the
destruction of the crop. The fields
may be sprinkled by means of broad
cast sprayer with an arsenical solution,
or they may be rolled with heavy
roller if the ground is level, or flock
of sheep may be sent in, which will re-
suit in crushing most of the worms by
trampling.
"In the great majority of cases, how
ever, these latter measures are unnec'
essary, for the reason that nature her
self almost always takes hand in the
reduction of the excessive numbers oi
the insects, either by unfavorable
weather conditions, or natural enc
mics and parasites, so that it is ex
tremely rare that we hear of one army
worm outbreak Immediately following
another.
"In general, therefore, it may be
said that as soon as the worms are
discovered to be exceptionally numer
Gus in a given field (and, as a matter
of fact, they are first almost invaria'
bly, restricted to the immediate neigh
borhood of some definitely limited
permanent breeding place), all ener'
gies should be devoted to the protec
ton of the surrounding crops by the
means mentioned above, and the de-
struction 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 rath
er, is never known to be injurious
and these localities owe their exemp
ton undoubtedly to the unconscious
use of preventative measures. Clean
cultivation, rotation of crops, cleaning
up fence corners, close pasturage, the
burning over of waste grass land in
spring or fall are all preventative
measures of great value, since, where
these methods are in vogue, the army
worm will never be able to get mi
gratory start, or, in other words, il
never becomes so abundant as to ne
cessitate migration.
"Bearing in mind the fact that the
insect breeds normally in rank grass
such as is usually found along the
edges of swamps (not in swamps, fol
the insect must have comparatively
dry earth in which to pupate, or IN
accidentally over-fertilized spots ir
pasture lands, and it feeds normally
only upon true grasses, the farmer who
has once suffered from army-worm at
tack may easily prevent its recurrence
by winter burning or by rotation and
clean cultivation.
"In cases where the worms have al
ready entered valuable field of whea,
before the farmer has become aware Of
their presence and too late to render
ditching of any avail, some little good
may be accomplished if the majority
of the worms are full grown, or nearly
full grown, by the old method o1
"dragging the rope" Two men, each
having hold of the end of 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 heads
again for some little time. This is a
laborious process, however, and has
to be repeated almost Immediately.
1t is only to be undertaken where the
number of worms in a field is compar'
atively small and where these are, as
before stated, full grown or nearly full
grown, since in this case they will stop
feeding and enter the ground in a day
or two"