Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1911-08-22
CORN EAR WORM
IS DESTRUCTIVE
Expert on This Pest Says 1t
Destroys From 5 to 10 Per
Cent Of Field Crop
Each Year.
{sy Paul Hayhurst, Professor of Ento-
mology, University of Arkansas.)

mology, University of Arkansas.)
The corn ear worm is the worm
commonly found in the ears of grow
Ing corn. 1t is the worst corn pest of
Arkansas, and is destructive wherever
this cereal is grown. Its damage gem
cent of the field of corn, and rs per
cent or all of the sugar-corn crops.
This Is the same worm that makes
holes in the leaves of corn early in
the season and fills the unfolding
leaves with its eXcrement. 1t feeds on
at least 70 kinds of plants, and is
known as the cotton boil worm the
tomato fruit-worm and the tobacco
bug-worm.
Dana ge to Corn.
When the corn is small, the young
worms eat through the opening leaves
thus producing many irregular holes
In the leaves, as they unfold. They
later attack the ears and tassels as
soon as these begin to form, where
they feed in preference to the leaves.
The worms eat of the silk, and most
of them enter the ear through this
end, but some go in through the sides.
and feed on the kernels and the cob
clear down to the base of the ear.
The openings which they make let in
fungi that sometimes causes the whole
ear to mold. In field corn not over
or 2 per cent is usually free from
these worms. This pest is trouble
some every year.
Natural History
In order to understand the methods
of control given below, it will be
necessary to tell the gist Of What is
known about the habits of the pest.
The corn ear worm is the lafsa of II
dun-colored moth With a Wing=eXpmse
OF little over an inch. Iii this state
they come out of the pupal stage in
May, and each female lays an average
of 1,000 eggs on the food plants Of
the worms, which hatch in about Il
week into tiny caterpillars that grow
rapidly until they are recognized as
the variously colored worms known
by the names above. The full grown
worms are about / ID inches long,
and seem naked to the unaided eye,
but they are really beset with very
small, sparse hair. They are com
monty more or less striped the long
way or the back, and are of many
+, shades of grey, brown or green or
i. even rose colored. They get their full
,growth in one month, when they enter
the soil and transform at the bottom
of tunnels to 5 inches deep into
brownish pupae. In two or three
weeks the second generation of moths
come out of the ground. These indi-
sviduals lay their eggs on the silk and
tassels as we'll as the leaves of corn.
and the second generation of larvae
are the most destructive on corn.
When these worms become pupae, the
6ars are beginning to harden, so that
when the third generation of moths
appear they are too tough for their
young worms of the next generation,
and therefore the moths generally fly
to their plants to lay their eggs In
cotton sections they deposit for the
I most part on cotton, and thus the
third generation of worms become
the cotton boil worm. (See Ark. Ex-
per. Station Giro. No. A.
Natural Enemies.
The worst enemies of the corn ear
worms are the worms themselves,
since they are canabalistic. Some
kinds of birds are also of great service
in destroying these pests. Those that
have been observed to feed on them
are the following: The redwinged
blackbird, the common blackbird. the
coWbird. bObwhite, and the readhead
ed woodpecker. Unfortunately the
first named bird is not common In
Arkansas. All these birds should be
encouraged, especially where corn is
grown.
Control Measures.
No thoroughly satisfactory methods
of control are known. Spraying car
not be practical. The pest is easier
to control as a cotton than as corr
ness for corn. Flowing the land fully
six inches deep in the late fall OF
,early winter and leaving the land lying
broken until spring will kill large
proportion of the pupae. This method
can not be practiced where the sol
is SO poor as to need more humus and
nitrates. So many lands suffer fol
soil Improvement that fall plowing
can not be generally advised. Wher
ever cover crops consisting of rye
with legumes should be grown it il
better to let them stand all winter
When small runs are used, serapt
and sweep them before heavy rains
Then turn the ground over and so"
oats.
dc