Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-07-17
Professor Tells About the
Worms That Are Reported
Damaging Timothy
CORN FIELDS ALSO ATTACKED
Their Ravases are Generally Confined
to Scattered Localities and They Sell
dom Appear in Same Vicinity Two
Years Successfully = Not Necessary
to Plow Up Sod.
Special to Times-Republican

| Ames, July I'm. L. Bowman, in
structor in farm crops at the State
College, in an Interview here today,
gave the Times Republican some valu-
able information regarding the attacks
made on the timothy and other fields.
He said:
Il noticed in recent issue of your
paper that numerous fields in the east
central part Of the state are being at
tackled by worms and more or less
damage resulting, especially to the
timothy, and that many meadow lands
might be plowed up, fearing that this
pest would continue it's damage the fol-
lowing year.
There has been considerable COM
plant from different parts of the state
this summer, due to the. fields being
attacked by worms and various state
ments are found concerning their de-
scription. Many specimens have been
received. by the farm crops depart
ment of the Iowa State College and in
each case, they have been that of the
common stalk borer or the army worm.
The former are not unfrequently found
working among the cereals, especially
in the oat, wheat and corn fields, but
as a rule, their damage is not very
extensive. Whole fields are not de-
vastated to that extent which they
have been when attacked by the army
worm The stalk borer enters stalk
of the plant and those visited are, in
the case of the smaller cereals, gen.
orally. killed, while this may not al
ways happen with corn. The moth Of
these larvae lay her eggs in the grass
and it is here that the young larvae
first appear in the early spring. They
live on the grass for a while and may
be detected by noting that the grass
turns to yellowish color and dies,
the tops giving evidence Of this first.
Here determination may be success
fully accomplished. by moving the
grass and getting 1t away. 1t may be
fed to the stock. AS the larvae ma
lures, it leaves the grass in search for
new feeding grounds, when it may at
tack oats, wheat, corn and other GER
calls, and. thus is generally found in the
outer portion Of the field. When a
plant has been attacked by the stalk
borer, there is no practical method by
which he can be eradicated without de-
stroying the plant.
The army worn differs from that. OF
the stalk borer In that the former
works upon the oatside,S:while the lat
ter lives inside the stalk or stem. The
damage by this pest has been to- "a
very limited extent this season, to that
which it has been in parts OF the Unit
ed States in years past. 1t appears
that the timothy has suffered most
It is.squite- remarkable to note that
clover ia seldom molested even In
field where the timothy has been COM
pletely destroyed.
"The eggs from which these cater
pillars come are also laid in the grass
and the early life history Of this lar
vac is similar to that Of the stalk borer
and may thus be detected and destroy
ed in the early period OF their exist
ence. When field has become infest-
ed with the army worm it is very diff
cult and practically impossible to de-
stroy these worms without injuring the
crop ALSO
I'm a recent issue of the Times-Re-
publican the statement was made that
some of the farmers were thinking ser
iously of blowing up their meadows
because of the damage received this
year from this pest, thinking that the
same thing might happen next year.
Wish to say that the life history of this
worm in the past years will not aid
one in coming to the above conclusion,
for rarely, if ever, has this worm raw
aged crops in the same locality during
two years in succession, even when
they have, been in sufficient numbers
to clean up whole areas. This is due
to the fact that the larvae Of the army
worm have many enemies, and only to
very exceedingly limited extent do
they ever reach the last stages of pup
alton, due to the many predacous and
parasitic insects, birds and fungus
diseases"