The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-06-14
THE CUT-woRM PEST.
University Professor Describes the In
scots Which Destroy Alfalfa.

sects Which Destroy Alfalfa.
The Elko Independent publishes the
following communication received
from Prof. s. B. Doten of the State
University, relative to the cnt-worms
that are doing so much damage in
Starr Valley:
The cut-worms which have done SO
much damage in eastern Nevada are
not entirely new and unheard OF
pest. In previous years these insects
have done considerable damage in
some parts of Oregon and Washington
and they have also been reported from
Colorado. In our own State they
must have been present for several
years; but, as they are not conspicuous
insects and have formerly done very
little harm they attracted scarcely any
attention.
This Is natural enough, for in the
day time the worms lie. hidden in the
soil or in, the dead leaves and rubbish
around the alfalfa roots, coming out at
night to feed on the young and tender
leaves. This habit of hiding all day
protects them against the attacks OF
a host of natural enemies such us the
small black wasps which hunt them
out and; singing them into insensibil-
ity, lay them away in holes in the
ground as food for young wasps. The
cut-worms are further protected by
their resemblance to the ground on
which they rest. They are about an
inch long, plump and cylindrical. The
head is light brown, smooth and shin
ing. The rest of the body is dirt color
Light grey, marked with obscure
brown dots. Like most of the smooth
bodied caterpillars they are unpro-
vided with any weapons of offense or
defense. The BIRDS therefore, es-
pecially the black birds, are fond of
them, and destroy them in consider
able numbers.
When full grown the caterpillars bur-
row into the soil, where each makes a
little oblong case of sand grains loosely
lined and held together with silken
threads. In this case it changes to a
smooth brown chrysalis about three
fourths of an inch long, pointed at one
end and blunt ab the other. After
about two weeks the moth wriggles
out of the chrysalis and cocoon and
comes to the surface of the ground with
damp, soft wings, useless for flight
until dried in the air. AT night the
moth takes flight and is attracted oc-
OCCASIONALLY to a lamp or candle and
then we see that it is a very ordinary
looking moth, with grey and black
front wings and hind wings pearly
white or grey. This completes the
series of stages from the worm to the
parent moth, which lives few days,
then lays a great number of eggs,
from which future cut worms are
Matched. Owing to the habits of the
worm and the nature of the crop this
insect is an unusually hard one to
combat 1t naturally does its worst
injury early in the year when the
alfalfa is just starting, by eating the
buds and young leaves before theplant
has any time to make start. 1t is of
course impossible to spray economical
ly q crop of alfalfa with any of the
usual insect poison; first, because of
the great cost involved, and then be-
cause these sprays are as poisonous to
horses and cattle as they are to insects.
The remedy then must come either
from nature or in some way from
methods of cultivating or irrigating
tho fields. Nature 80 far has but little
to offer in the way of an effective rem
edy. The birds destroy very few
worms in'comparison with the whole
number; and have as yet found little
to indicate the presence of any inn
portant insect which preys upon the
cutworm. These insect parasites may
develop, however, later in the season.
When the fields are very thoroughly
irrigated great numbers of the worms
are drowned. 1t is therefore probable
that if the fields were disc narrowed
before the first irrigation and thor
oughly flooded that great majority
of these worms which escaped the har-
row would be destroyed by the water.
In eastern Nevada the cutworm has
practical men, energetic and intelli-
gent, to deal with, and it will be very
surprising If it long has the best of the
situation.