The Washington times., 1912-08-30
ARMY WORMS RUIN
LAWNS IN INVASION
i. OF THE CAPITAL
War, State, and Navy De-
partments Are First To
Suffer from Caterpillar.

An army more destructive in pro.
portion to its force than the British
who visited the National Capital in
1914. swooped down upon the city last
Friday evening. Its point OF attack
was the State, War and Navy building
grounds. Saturday morning the ravages
visible. Now the beautiful green car
pets OF the gardens north of the building
have been turned to brown.
The army worm," so called because
OF its habit of travelling in hosts that
would make Xerxes's million look like
a handful of invaders. chose a strategic
moment Tor attack. r. Balluff, the
gardener, went away Friday The
army worms appeared shortly afterward
and completed their attack on the ten
der grass before he returned
The |,wns attacked were among the
most beautiful In Washington. Sunk
below the level of the street they were
permanently framed in stone railings
and balustrades, while the grass ia
edged with hydrangea, geraniums, ph,ox
and August lilies. The stone in places
is covered with thick mat of Virginia
creeper.
When the worms first appeared a
hurry call was sent 10 the Department
OF Agriculture. The scientists there
army worm comes this far north 4
number of the invaders We're sent to
the department, however, and were
identified as the real thing. The
army worm attacks the tender
blades of grass or other green things
in its path and so far as known cannot
be stopped when on the march.
Gardener Balluff sprinkled Paris green
and wheat bran over the lawn and to-
day there are MANY cut worms curled
up, to be counted among the daed and
wounded of the army. Many of the
worms, filled with their feast Of green
food, burrowed into the ground, pre-
pared to begin their evolution into a
pretty, winged insect.
Is Striped Caterpilla.
The army worm is a striped cater
pillar about an inch or an inch and a
quarter long. The worm continues Its
growth for three or four weeks before
entering the ground for the pupa stage.
The matured form is an insect, yellow
ish brown marked on each forewing
with a white spot. The eggs are very
small and from two to twenty may be
found beneath each blade of grass. The
eggs hatch in from eight to ten days.
The gardens attacked were laid out
by Capt, u, S. Grant, III. 4 record
of the development of the plats has
been kept in photographs made by w.
+. Chapman, chief clerk in the office
of the superintendent of the State, War
and Navy Building.
The formula used in the extermina-
ton of the worms comprises one pound
of Paris green to fifty pounds of wheat
bran. While this killed the worms 1t
had another unexpected result.
The chief enemy of the invaders
proved to be English sparrows. The
birds promptly found a feast in the gar
dens. But the birds ate many worms
which had eaten Paris green and as a
result the sparrows have died almost
as rapidly as their victims.
Congress Authorizes $4,000.
Congress has appropriated $500 for
the investigation of methods of exter-
minating the army worm. The attack
here chronicled Is the first in Wash
ington. Throughout the South the raw
ages of the worm are we'll known.
The worms have appeared on the
White House lawn. A few brown
splotches are noticed there now and II
Is expected that the lawn will be tenn
porarily ruined in places. The worms
do not attack the roots and on this ac-
count their effect on lawns Is tempo
rary. With the Matching of new eggs.
however the hungry worms will make
another attack.