The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-08-05
SOME GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ABOUT
TRAP-LANTERNs Oh MOTH
CATCHERs."

m6r mas Sa1Q ABOUT the mOCn caCcnor
scheme, it is perhaps unnecessary to
again warn our readers against it, but
as a sort of clincher, we are moved to
reproduce the following extract from
a bulletin issued last week by the Cor
nell Experiment Station:
Many kinds of insects are most ac-
tive at night and are then often at
tracted to any light, but there are
hosts Of insects that fly mostly in the
daytime. Most of the grasshoppers,
many of the true bugs Cike the squash
stink-bug), all of the butterflies (like
the very destructive cabbage butter
fly, many of the moths Qike the
peach-tree borer moth), many of the
beetles Qike the Colorado potato bee
tle), most Of the flies Qike the house
fy), and many of the Hymenoptera
Qike the saw-fies), all of these in
sects are day-fiers or are not attract
ed to lights; and they include large
proportion of our common insect
pests.
A trap-lantern or "moth-catcher"
may attract and kill 10000 or 10000
insects in a season, but most of the
household pests, most of the fruit
growers insect enemies, and nearly all
Of the serious pests of the gardener or
grower of general field crops-none
of these will be captured in economic
or paying numbers. Only winged
adult insects are caught, the more de-
structive nymphs and larvae are never
taken.
Usually moths will constitute about
half of the insects caught in trap
lanterns and most of these are not
pests, and only 10 per cent of those
that are injurious are females, and
these have nearly all laid their eggs.
Often as many friends as foes among
the beetles will be taken.
Usually the total number of benef-
cial insects captured will at least
equal and may greatly exceed the
number of those that rank as common
pests or are often injurious; nearly
one-third of all the insects caught in
three months in two "moth-catchers"
run in Canada were beneficial, and we
caught nearly as many friends as foes
in our trap-lanterns. And we should
remember that one of these predaceous
and parasitic insect friends is capable
of killing several injurious insects.
Thus the prospect of capturing so
many beneficial insects becomes a
very serious factor in considering the
advisability of using trap-lanterns.
1t is not so much a question of how
many insects, but of what kinds of
insects will be captured.
Locality, surrounding crops, and
climatic conditions will influence the
"catch" in a trap-lantern. We caught
nearly 1900 insects, representing
about $50 species, in one trap-lantern
run over four months in New York,
while nearly as many specimens and
kinds we're taken in one night in a
Texas cotton field, but only about
1000 were caught in a "moth-catcher"
run three months in Canada. We
caught the most insects during June
and August.
The much advertised "moth-catch-
er" involves no new trap-lantern
principles and the definite evidence
thus far recorded shows that it at
tracts and kills about the same kinds
of insects as our simple trap-lantern.
About as many insects have been cap
tured in a "moth-catcher" in Nebras-
ka, but only about one-ffth as many
we're taken in Canada, as we got with
our trap-lantern in New York.
An orchardist or a grower of small
fruits has no use for a trap-lantern
,or "moth-catcher," because they will
not catch enough of the more inju-
rious fruit pests to pay one-tenth of
the trouble and expense of running
them. Tent-caterpillar moths are the
only common fruit insects that are
caught in economic numbers and nine
tenths of these will be males. Cod
ling-moths are not attracted by lights
and only rarely one accidentally fall
a victim; the highest record thus far
is eight codling-moths in fifteen
nights! The wingless female canker-
worm moths will not crawl into "moth-
catchers," and the lights do not at
tract the two kinds of apple-borer