The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-04-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
TIE COTTON BOIL WORN.
summary Of . Lecture Delivered BY
Prof. Mally Before Texas Far.
mers nj Paris.

cred at Paris, Tex, to meeting OF
farmers, is condensed
from the Paris Morning News:
Prof. Mally begsu his remarks By
stating that he did not care to make
speech. He gave his personal ex-
perience with farm work, and more
especially of his work for the gov
eminent in experimenting with boil
worms. He did this, he said, to get
the idea out of the minds OF those
who possibly had the opinion that he
Is only q book farmer.
The first proposition was, the boil
worm of cotton is the corn worm.
While this worm feeds on cotton 1T
prefers corn. Second TO corn 1t pre-
fers cowpeas. The alternating hab-
it's of this worm and the miller were
explained.
1t is now in the ground in the
chrysalis form, about two inches
deep. When it comes out early in the |
spring it comes as the miller. He
recommended pulverizing the ground
with a disc harrow. set to go three
or four inches deep. This should be
done both ways, thus separating the
worm from its silken bed. Some OF
them will perist through this process.
This is only preliminary move.
The next thing to be done is to plant
trap rows of corn, four rows for every
five acres Of cotton.
There is new generation OF these
worms every eighteen to twenty-five
days, dependent upon the condition
of the weather, from the time they
begin Matching in the spring until the
worm goes into the chrysalis form
| for the winter.
The first two rows of the corn are
planted at regular corn planting
time, one row the regular corn crop,
and the other row an early corn. The
miller begins work on the corn quite
early, and it is usually the second
generation that works on the silk,
and finally the ear. The different
times of the coming in of the corn
1 gives the worms something to do. La
ter on, about the first of May, plant
another row of early corn, and then
about the first of June plant row
Of Mexican June corn. Each crop OF
corn will catch an average of two
generations of worms. He explained
why the worms prefer cotton. 1t is
because there is no corn at the time
they begin their depredations. They
appear in August and September,
sometimes in July, but very rarely.
! Keeping up continuous growth OF
corn keeps the pests away from the
cotton. This holds them within min
imum of space, and as the different
generations come to life on the diff
ferent corn rows they can be killed
out by removing the corn. The eggs
Z are about the size of pin head, and
white. just before they hatch Q
black streak crosses them. Some
times they are black all over, when II
is not advisable to remove the rows
of corn, for the blackness is caused
by a small parasite that 5ores intt
the egg and deposits its eggs therein
This parasite is the friend of thu
farmer, and more destructive to thu
worms than any human agency.
He had found from experience thai
to make lights effective they must b.
placed above the plants, that the fe
male miller when depositing her egg
strays down among the stalks, ant
rarely flies above the tops. Those wh'
! have used the lights catch thousand
|. of millers, ninety per cent. of which
J. are males. They never catch a fe
1 male until it has passed the laying
5 stage. Friendly insects are attract
ed by light and are destroyed. Thu
$ instead of being beneficial the ligh
; system is worse than useless. 1t doe
s not catch the particular miller yo
I are after, but kills the friendly mil
Z Ter.
: If the farmer wishes he can plan
potatoes in the rows he has waitin
+ for the later planting of corn, whe
o the conditions are such that the frs
t matured corn row can be removed
o that is, If the parasite is not at wor
, among the eggs, row of cow-pear
can be planted. This crop coming o
places before the worms anothe
plant that they would rather hav
than cotton. The worms are carni1
erous and canibaIistic. When the
first come out of the egg they eat
up, then they eat everything with
their reach. They shed their skins
m couple of times, and the first thin
IS they do is to turn and eat that.
II they are thick and mix together the
Al eat each other. You will rarely 81
lie more than one full grown worm {
re an ear of corn. Sometimes there a
ic two, and in exceptional cases I
IL many as three. They are SO cannib'
err istic that when we go out to cate
r, them for experimental purposes it
b. necessary to take as many pill box
III as we expect to bring back worms.
'ir we were to place two in the san
On box we would have only one when
o. reached home.
ID If the destruction is desired to
on made more effective make . swe
poisonous solution and spray t
nd corn and cow-peas with it. One oun
oi- of arsenic in a gallon of water, tS
es gallons of molasses, and then a
rs twenty-tbree gallons of water. II
or should be sprayed from 5 to o'clo