The true Democrat., 1912-06-08
CORN CAN Be PLANTED
AS LATE AS JULY 4TH
BY w. R. Dodson:

Inquiries about planting late corn
are coming to the Experiment Sta
ton in almost every mail, therefore
some general statements regarding
late corn planting would seem oppor-
tune. My observations and expert
mentS in planting corn in May, June
and early July have now extended
over period of eighteen years, and
some of the best crops of corn, as
well as some of the most complete
failures that l have observed, have
been made from planting the corn in
late June or early July. The latest
crop of corn that has been planted
on the Experiment Station, so far
as l know, was planted at Baton
Rouge on July 8th, 1908. This crop
would have been damaged by frost,
had the frost come earlier, but we
had a late frost and the corn matur-
ed and met every requirement for
feeding purposes, making nearly fiji
teen bushels to the acre, which was
considerably in excess of the yield
of any early corn that knew of in
this neighborhOCd On the other
hand, we have had some crops of
late corn that were so badly damaged
by the ear worm that the yield was
not more than half that secured
from early planting. However, on
a general average, corn planted from
the goth of June to the 4th of July
will make a good crop more than
half of the time and will always pay
for the labor and other expenses in
VOlved, provided one plants Mexican
June, Laguna, or yellow Creole In
case these varieties cannot be secur-
ed, the Hastings Prolific will proba-
bly, be one of the best varieties that
can be secured.
In the section now inundated there
is some danger of grass worms fol-
lowing the recession Of the waters,
and they sometimes completely de-
strOy the crop. These insects are
ordinarily kept in subjecti0n by their
natural enemies, chief of which are
the ground beetles which feed upon
both the larval and the adult stages
of grass worms. These beetles are
destroyed in OVerfloWed areas, and
after the recession of the waters re-
gain possession of the territory slow
ly. The adult of the grass worm is
a little moth that lays it's eggs on
the young blades of grass or corn,
where they hatch in about three days
and grow rapidly, reaching maturity
in about ten days. The chrysalis
stage lasts for eight or nine days,
so that the entire life cycle is pass
ed in about three weeks, and with
this rapid reproduction they soon
take complete possession of terrific
ry where their enemies have been
killed out.
The habit of the grass worm is such
that it drops from, its place of sup
port whenever it is disturbed, and it
is the cutsom of some farmers to at
tach device to the plow that will
drag the corn in advance of the
plOw, causing the caterpillars to drop
off and be covered. They can also
be poisoned by using Paris green
mixed with five or six times its
weight of air Stacked lime and dust
ed on the corn either with a blow
gun, or in the ordinary way of shak-
ing it from a porous bag as cotton
planters ordinarily poison cotton
against the cotton caterpillar
1t is very possible that the dam
age that accrues to small areas that
have been inundated, where most
observations on this insect have been
made, will not follow in cases where
large oxpanses of territory have been
under water; at least it is not prob
able that there are enough of these
insects en- the high lands to become
a serious pest after they are dissem-
mated, even should they invade the
territory now inundated l, there
fore, do not contemplate any serious
damage over wide %pread area, from
this insec 1t is, tCWever, well to
ha rnDarad for fiohtinp thnco in