The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1905-09-07
. COTTON BOIL WORM.

II - sCO7ITON BULL WOnM.
Appeared EARLY Last season-GRso4.
est Injury In August.
A long continued corn planting sea.
son, extending from the beginning Of
March, and the growing Of much late
cotton give very promising look for
the cotton boil worm, which has al
ready been reported as damaging
tomatoes in various localities. Profess
or r. l. Smith Of Georgia has said u
this insect:
I Its regular appearance In greater or
less numbers each year has caused
growers to give but little attention to
the injury caused by the bollworm.
The fact that bollworm injury was re-
ported so early in the year 1904 makes
1t seem advisable to mention 1t quite
prominently at this time. Bollworm
injury to cotton is not common until
about Aug. !, when It's favorite food
plant, corn, has become hard and dis
tasteful.
Besides feeding ON cotton the boil
worm Is often a serious pest on corn.
tomatoes, beans, peas, okra and tobac-
co. The latter crop Is injured by hav-
ing the buds eaten. All the other
crops mentioned are injured by the
bollworms boring into the fruit or in
the case Of beans and peas into the
pods.
The Insect.
The bollworm belongs to the class
Of insects that have four distinct
stages In their development-namely,
adult, egg. larva and pupa. Moths
usually appear In spring about the
time that corn Is ten or fifteen inches
high, and in general they prefer to de-
post eggs on young corn instead Of
cotton, the eggs being laid on all parts
Of the plant, but preference is shown
for silk If it is present.
From these eggs minute worms are
Matched which are at first pale green
in color, but soon become darker. Tho
full grown larvae may vary in color
from pale green to brown or almost
black. These worms are voracious
feeders, a single individual often de-
stroying large number Of squares OK
hollis. This habit Of going from ono
place to another on the plant for the
purpose Of feeding explains the reason
why the farmer finds many young
squares with a hole in the base, but
no sign Of the transgressor. Bollwofms
when first Matched wander around on
the plant feeding ON the leaves until
they find a square or form into which
they BORE 1t Is during this time that the
forms may be poisoned with arsenicals.
Preventing Injury to Cotton.
In Georgia there are at least four
and possibly five generations. In gen
eral it may be said the third brood
is the one that Injuries the cotton most
severely or at least that has been the
generally accepted belief In the past.
Last year, however, a majority Of re-
ports from bollworm injury came to
the entomologist during June and July,
which showed that 1t must have been
the larvae Of the first and second
broods that were doing the damage.
There are two main methods of pre-
venting injury, to cotton-the use Of
corn planted in rows through the cot
ton field to serve as a trap. and the
application Of arsenical poisons to de-
stroy the worms when on the cotton.
Poisoning should be attempted when
the worms first appear on the cotton.
Experiments in Texas by Professor A.
L. Quaintance in 1904 showed that II
will pay we'll in most eases to poison
for the third brood. The old method
of applying poison by means Of the
! simple busting apparatus carried by a
man who walks rapidly along the row
busting both sides of the plant at once
has proved to be most economical.
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