Barton County democrat., 1912-04-19
BEWARE OF THE cUTWoRM.
II Takes Quick Action to Save Your
Tomatoes.

Tomatoes, cabbage sweet potatoes,
and other vegetables and garden
plants, especially those which are
started under glass and tranSplanted,
are subject TO serious injury by cut
worms. They appear sometimes in
great numbers in spring and early
summer and frequently do severe IN
jury befone their ravages are noticed.
The method Of attack is to cut off
the young plants at about the surface
OF the ground, and as these insects
ane OF large size and voracious feed
ers, they are capable OF destroying
many plants in single might, fre-
quenty more than they can devour.
During the past two years these IN
sects, working generally Throughout
the United States, destroyed hundreds
Of thousands OF dollars worth Of
crops. BY the timely application Of
remedies, however, these insects can
be controlled. Poisoned bats usually
are successful. If you have only a
few plants in your backyard ganden,
OF counSe you will not need elaborate
protection. Young tomatoes, cab
bageS, and other tranSplanted things,
set into the ground in a handful Of
the earth in which they grew, wrap
ped about in newspaper or a piece OF
thin cardboard, viii not be bothered
by cutworms. The paper should be
about three inches lOng-into the
ground. The worm will not go thru
it. Experience at the Kansas Agri-
cultural College has shown that this
bait will account for many Of the
worms:
Take bushel Of dry bran, add
one pound OF arsenic or Paris green,
and mix it thoroughly into a mash
with eight gallons of water, in which
has been stirred half a gallon of sor-
ghum or other cheap molasSes. After
the mash has stood for several hours
scatter it in Jumps of about the size
of marble over the fields where in
jury is beginning to appear and about
the bases Of the plants set out. Apply
late in the day, SO as to place the poi
son about the plants over night, whic
is the time when the cutwOrms are
active. Apply a second time if nee
essary.
When cutworms occur in unusual
abundance, which happens locally
and sometimes generally, in some
seasons, they exhaust their food
supply and are driven to migrate tc
other fields. This they do, literally
in armies, assuming what is called
the amy-wOrm habit. At such times
it is necessary to treat them as army
worms. While the methods which hav'
been advised are valuable in sUcf
cases, these remedies may be to,
slow to destroy all the cutworms, ant
other methods must be used. Thest
include trenching,, ditching, the plow
ing of deep burrows i'm advance OF tbs
travelling cutworms to trap them, ant
the dragging OF logs or brush througl
the fu1rows.
If the trenches can be filled witt
water, the addition of a small quaint
ty of kerosene so as to form a THU
scum on the surface Will prove 1atal
In extreme cases, barriers of fenct
boards are erected and the top
smeared with tar or other sticky sub
stances to stop the cutwoms as the.
attempt to crawl over.
Clean cultural methods and rotatio
of crops ane advisable, as also fal
plowing and discing. Many cutwOrm
can be destroyed where it is possibA
to overflow the fields. This is partit
ularly applicable where irrigation i
practiced.