Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1911-07-27

y "A \ - - - ~ - -
haps It is because the entomologist,
working against odds--the great odds
OF insects wiles and deviltries--is con-
coded to have wrested from their COM
pick ways and habits something more
than the layman or the man whose /
toll they seek to render fruitless-l say
perhaps he Is thought to be equipped
to do Justice to such subject as the !
one assigned to me. Perhaps there |
are many who are; am not.
| say this with no effort at apology; |
the truth does not need 1t. Were
able to present this subject in such a
way as to have you clamoring for
copies of this paper so that you might
hang 1t upon your wall and with each
changing season and its accompanying
swarms of insect tourists go out and
grid your loins ably and effectively, as
1t were, to route them utterly, then |
should not be here today; ! hardly
think the earth provides an estate for
one such. / want to tell you straignt
from the shoulder that the entomoi-
ogist is-a tyro Of the first water and
that he never graduates from the
school of probationers. II, however,
have learned some things that you
have not yet seen and, though they
be but few in number, you shall de-
rive some degree of profit therefrom,
then / shall feel that my work In TINS
effort has been to some extent worth
while.
| Now to brass tacks: many sections
of Texas are Just recovering from one
of the greatest outbreaks OF the cotton
leaf worm, sometimes called the cot
ton caterpillar, that has ever been
experienced in this state. Particularly
in the gulf coast country was this out
break serious saw fields OF hundreds
of acres of cotton absolutely stripped
of all foliage. They came unobserved,
developed quickly, and before the
planters were aware of ID the seconq
generation had emerged from their
cocoons, laid their thousands OF eggs
and started as many young caterpli.
liars eating upon the already damage1
plants.
In this case great damage was COM
mitted because of the fact that the
planters were not expecting such an
outbreak, and consequently were I'M
nrepared. Had they been armed with
dust bags and poison and had observed
the first indications of an infestation
the process of we'll nigh exterminating
them and saving the cotton would nave
been quite simple.
A word about the life history of this
worm. Its real winter home Is IN the
far south of Florida and Texas, where
the moths hibernate in the more thlcK-
Nv timbered regions. Not many OF
these survive. but when we consider
, that each female moth that does sur
! yiye is capable of laying approximate
!. ly five hundred minute, hattenea
: bluish-green eggs, then we can reaally
|, understand how it is that the ieai
worm becomes so abundant In so shor'
, while.
The eggs of this moth hatch during
midsummer in three or four days, pro
ducing a slender, pale yellow larvs
= which moves with the characteristic
| "measuring worm, loop. Almost imme
: diately these larvae begin their vora
cious feeding; in from one to thre'
weeks they have moulted several times
= and then spun into cocoons withii
u ragged leaves, in which condition the!
> remain from a week to one month, de
pending, of course, upon weather AM
!: temperature conditions. From tnes'
i nupae we have adult moths agal
: ready to lay eggs for the second gen
|, Grafton. These moths are night-nyer'
: which. like some of the human tribe
! prefer to commit their Ill deeds unde
Il cover of darkness. Thus it happens
8 that a field that has been entirely ire
: of worms will become well sprlnKie'
. with eggs over night and before th'
unsuspecting planter is aware OF
have one, two or maybe three giutton
= GUS worms to every leaf
The remedy is simple; half OF
!, consists in being prepared. plante
:. who gets in and poisons when the mrs
;. brood is discovered has won half IN
n battle.
- Poisoning today is accomplisne
8 through the agency of paris green o
:, london purple; in some instances IN
o. planters have adopted powdered arse
= nate of lead. To my mind there Is n
:, excuse for using either london purpi
> or paris green when powdered arse
- nate of lead is procurable. The latte
:, is as strongly toxic as either OF III
n former and does not burn the tollag'
- Arsenate of lead can be busted upo
a a cotton at the rate of from two to tnre
~ mounds to the acre; 1t is not adVi,
y. able to use over pound Oh par
If green or london purple
lv Another important and destrucIlV
% enemy of the cotton plant, the motht
- of which is also a moth, is our con
- mon cotton boil worm. Often we IN
thie miscreant disguised under IN
= nom de plumes bud worm "cornes
- worm" and tomato fruit worm.
70 whatever capacity it sees fit to empio
-. itself it is generally well in evidence
n. Briefly summarized, the moths tn'
Ia issue i'm early spring are from pupa
&c that were from larvae when, WIG
30 full grown. dropped to the earth, pu
- rowed from two to five inches In u
no. soil and there peacefully slept throue
n. the winter. These spring moths IL
" their eggs upon the first plant IN
w. strikes their fancy, and this general
- happens to be the leaves OF cor
~ which are at that time young ana su
N. culent. These eggs may hatch III w
" and a half days or they may take
NJ long as eight days or longer to prouu'
the pale green larva which WIN
N Young and only then, may be success
fully poisoned. -,
u When the first generation have col
,,otad their growth and emerged