St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-04-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
The COTTON BOIL WORM.
Summary of q Lecture Delivered by
Prof. MAlIy Before Texas Far
mers 1t Paris.

summary of q Lecture Delivered by
Prof. MulIy Before Texas Far
mers 1T Paris.
The following summary of Prof
Mally's lecture on the boil worm de!iv-
cred at Paris, Tex, to meeting OF
representative farmers, is condensed
from the Paris Morning News:
Prof. Mally began his remarks bS
stating that he did not care to make
a speech. He gave his personal ex-
perience with farm work, and more
especially of his work for the gov
ernment 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 book farmer.
The first proposition was, the boil
worm of cotton il the corn worm.
While this WORN feeds on cotton it
prefers corn: Second to corn it 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 inctes;
deep. When it comes out early in the
spring it comes as the miller. He
recommended pulverizing the ground
VITA disc harrow set to go three
or four inches deep. This should be
done both ways, thus separating the
worm from it's silken bed. Some of
them will perist through this process.
This is only a 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
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
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
are about the size of a pin head, and
white. Just before they hatch
UkdCh SL1CdA N1OSSCS CAOus oOAAC-
times they are black all over, when it
is not advisable to remove the rows
of corn, for the blackness is caused
by small parasite that bores into
the egg and deposits its eggs therein.
This parasite is the friend of the
worms than any human agency.
He had found from experience that
to make lights effective they must be
placed above the plants, that the fe-
male miller when depositing her eggs
strays down among the stalks, and
rarely flies above the tops. Those who
have used the lights catch thousands
of millers, ninety per cent. of which
are males. They never catch fe-
male until it has passed the laying
stage. Friendly insects are attract
ed by light and are destroyed. Thus
instead of being beneficial the light
system is worse than useless. It does
not catch the particular miller you
are after, but kills the friendly mil
Ter.
If the farmer wishes he can plant
potatoes in the rows he has waiting
for the later planting of corn, when
the conditions are such that the first
matured corn row can be removed
that is, if the parasite is not at work
among the eggs, a row of cow-pears
can be planted. This crop coming on
places before the worms another
plant that they would rather have
than cotton. The worms are carniv-
erous and canibalistic. When they
first come out of the egg they eat it
up, then they eat everything within
their reach. They shed their skins a
couple of times, and the first thing
they do is to turn and eat that. If
they are thick and mix together they
eat each other. You will rarely see
more than one full grown worm on
an ear of corn. Sometimes there are
two, and in exceptional cases as
many as three. They are so cannibal-
istic that when we 60 out to catch
them for experimental purposes it is
necessary to take as many pill boxes
as we expect to bring back worms. If
we were to place two in the same
box we would have only one when we
reached home.
If the destruction is desired to be
made more effective make a sweet
poisonous solution and. spray the
corn and cow-peas with it. One ounce
Of arsenic in gallon of water, two
gallons of molasses, and then add
gallons of water. This
should be sprayed from 5 to 6 o'clock
in the evening. The friendly insects