Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1912-06-06
DAMAGE DONE BY CUTWORMS
Pest May Be Ersdlcsted Where II 10
Possible to Overflow Fields
Where irrigation Practiced.

Tomatoes. cabbage. sweet potatoes
and other vegetables and garden
plants, and especially those which
are started under glass and transplant
ed. are subject to serious injury by
cutworms. They appear sometimes in
great numbers In spring and early
summer and frequently do severe In
Jury before the 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 are Of
large size and voracious feeders they
are capable of destroying many plants
In single night, frequently more than
they can devour. During the past
two years these insects. working gen.
orally through the United States de-
stroyed hundreds of thousands Of dol
lars worth of crops. BY the timely
application of remedies. however. it
was demonstrated by the department
of agriculture through field agents and
others of the bureau of entomology
engaged in the investigation of insects
injurious to truck crops and sugar
beets in some OF the principal truck
ing regions, notably in tidewater Vir-
ginia. in southern Texas. in the vi
cinity Of Rocky Ford. Colo, in south
ern California, in the vicinity Of Sac
ramento. Cal. in Stark county, Indiana,
and In some other regions hat these
. Insects can be readily controlled. large
areas being successfully treated. The
, usual method of control is by the use
of poisoned bats
, Take bushe 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 gallon of sorghum.
or other cheap molasses. After the
mash has stood several hours. scatter
it in Jumps of about the size Of mar
BILE over the fields where injury is be-
ginning to appear and about the bases
OF the plants set out Apply late in the
day so as TO place the poison about
the plants over night. which is the
time when the cutworms are active.
Apply second time If necessary.
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 TO other fields. This
they do, literally in armies. assuming
what is called the army-worm habit
At such times It is necessary to treat
them as We do army worms. While
the methods which have been advised
are valuable in such cases. these rem
edies may be too slow to destroy al
the cutworms and We. therefore. have
to employ other methods. These in
clude trenching. ditching the plowin,
OF deep burrows in advance Of the trav
= cling cutworms TO trap them. and th'
dragging OF logs or brush through thu
=, burrows II the trenches can be file
, with water. the addition OF small
a quantity Of kerosene. so as TO form
:, thin scum on the surface. will prov
fatal In extreme cases barriers o
- fence boards are erected and the top
smeared with tar or other sticky sui
stances to stop the cutworms as the
., attempt TO crawl over
:" Clean cultural methods and rotatio
OF crops are advisable. as also fal
blowing and disking. Many cutworm
can be destroyed where It is possibl
- to overflow the fields This is pal
IL ticuarly applicable where irrigato
- is practiced.