Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-04-16
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
WILSON DISCUSSES SEC.
rioNAL PESTS.
DIFFERENT LOCALITIES HAVE
OWN PROBLEMS TO SOLVE
Wilson Gives Various Remedies for
Combating Pssts-clsan Cultural
Methods and Rotation Of Crops Best
Preventive Of Injury by Cutworrs
and Army Worms.
Especial Correspondence. I

"dSniIiStOIi, Aprli l5,-SeCretary
Wilson has given out a statement deal
ing With the insects injurious " SUGAR
beets. III this connection, he tells Of
treatment valuable for getting rid of
cutworms. army worms and other
pests that are enemies, not merely of
the sugar beet. but of numerous other
forms OF vegetation. In the east. cut
worms last year were especially nu-
merous and losses therefrom to corn
fields, gardens and the like, heavy
Iowa corntields and various crops and
gardens have in years past suffered
heavily from such sources.
Secretary Wilson says:
Every year there is an increase in
the number of beet-sugar factories,
with corresponding increase in acre
age grown to sugar beets in the United
States. OF this acreage rs per cent is
divided among three StatesAColorado,
California, and Michigan. The esti-
mated value of the sugar-b beet crop. or
the beet-sugar product, for 1910 is $780,
100000 This value would undoubtedly
have been higher if atmospheric con-
ditions, combined with insect attack,
Aldu llOS IcuuCeu H. ASSUMING luS
very conservative estimate of 10 per
cent loss due to insect damage. the in
jury by insects results in a loss to the
grower and factories of s., 100000. AS
Stunning loss of 20 per cent which is
authoritatively estimated for table
beets and other root crops, we suffer
sect ravages.
Pests in Different Localities.
Different insects are the primary
pests in different regions. For example.
in southern California wireworms are
among the most important pests: in
Utah. Idaho, and Colorado the curly
top leafhopper and webworms are very
Injurious; in the northwest the beet
aphis Is most destructive pest; in
some seasons beet army worms cause
great losses: in the more eastern beet
growing states, from Michigan to Kan
sas, grasshoppers are very destructive:
in the north. white grubs are trouble
some; and southwark. flea-beetles and
blister beetles do great damage. Cut
worms are injurious practically every
where and in some. seasons are much
more DESTRUCTIVE thar In others. Dam
age due to cut-worms during the years
1917 anu 1911, W SuSdI DcclS anu ITuCh
crops, reached into the hundreds Of
thousands of dallars. In their occur
renee in sugar-beet fields cutworms
have beer successfully treated by ex-
perts Of the bureau Of entomology. by
the application of poisoned bats. A
good poisoned bait may be prepared as
follows:
"Take a bushel Of dry bran, add one
1f Dar ~ nd
mix it thoroughly into a mash with
been stirred half gallon Of sorghum
or other cheap nolasses. After the
mash has stood several hours, scatter
1t in Jumps Of about the size of a
marble over the fields where injury is
beginning to appear and about the
bases of the plants set out. Apply late
over night, which is the time when the
cutworms are active. Repeat If nee
essary.
Spraying is Beneficial.
I'm some cases, where the cutworms
are unusually numerous and it might
require too long a time to prepare an6
apply the bats which have been ad
vised, equally good success has beer
with arsenate of lead at the ratio of
four pounds to fifty gallons Of water
This spraying should be repeated as
found necessary.
when cutworms occur IN serious
, abundance. which happens in some
seasons. they migrate from one field
to another. assuming what is called the
armv-worm habit. While the methods
which have been advised are valuable
in such cases, they are too slow to de-
stroy all the cutworms and we there
fore have to employ other methods.
These include trenching, ditching, the
blowing of deep burrows in advance of
the travelling cutworms to entrap them.
and the dragging OF logs or pieces OF
brush thru the burrows. II the trenches
can be filed with water the addition Of
q small quantity Of kerosene SO as to
form Il thin scum on the surface will
prove fatal. These remedies are also