Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-07-23
To STOP THE
ADVANCE Of THE
AR MY VI R NJ
PlOwed Burrows and Poison for
New Outbreak of Pest That
Threatens Wheat, Oats,
Corn, Timothy, Etc.

Washington, July 19.-Lett ers. telephone
messages. and individual callers have
been soliciting aid from the United States
department of agriculture to stop the ad
vance Of the hordes of army worms that
threaten their fields of wheat oats, corn,
timothy, blue grass, and other grasses
There seems to be a general outbreak of
this pest throughout the North, east of
the Rocky mountains. These worms are
emerging from eggs laid by moths that
appa~ emily swarmed up from the south
west Great numbers of these motlS
have cen noticed in the vicinity of
Washington during the past month hui
dreds of their broken wings having been
seen near the union station. Lawns In
the capital are being overrun by this
pest
The army worn is a smooth, striped
caterpillar about an inch and a quarter
long and quarter Of an inch in diam
eter. 1t is rather dark in appea rance.
While normally it feeds by night and
hides by day, not being generally noticed,
as soon as 1t has increased to such a
number that its food supply falls short,
II starts to travel and becoming holder,
feeds both night and day. The moth
from which this worm matches is brown
with a white spot on the center of each
fore wing. It measures about an inch
and one-half from wing to wing.
HOW WORMS MAY BE DESTRO 4 ED.
If the worms have not yet attacked a
field the most practical way to keep
them out is to pillow burrows In front of
them throwing the furrow in the direc-
ton toward which they are travelling.
The worms will fall into the furrow d
when this is full they may be killed
either by dragging a log back and forth
In the furrow or by destroying the worms
In holes previously dug at intervals of
90 feet in the bottom of the furrow. Ker-
osene poured on them in the holes will
destroy them.
| If the worms are already in the field
| the following mixture which will attract
! the worms an destroy them should he
spread about: pound of paris green
poisonous), so pounds of wheat bran,
! juice of one-half dozen oranges. Bring
this fixture to a stiff dough by the use
of dilute molasses and scatter it amongst
the worms. Care should be taken to
keep this dough from children or domestic
animals.
| Prompt action to prevent the worms
from infesting a field is much better
than later efforts to attempt to kill them
In the grain. Once the caterpillars have
infested a field, the measures necessary
TO destroy them may seriously hurt or
| even destroy the crop.
The worms at first are almost always
localized in eorun dafOita hrne5ipp rla "a
in tn field and immediate efforts should
be taken to eradicate them in these small
areas before they have had time to
spread The normal breeding place of
the army worm is in rank grass, such
as is usu.lly found along the edges Of
swamps or in spots of pasture land that
have been over-fertilzed. They are prac-
tically never found in swamps, because
the worm needs a reasonably dry place
| In which to breed.
Clean cultivation, rotation of crops.
cleaning up OF fence corners, close pas
turage, and the burning over of waste
grass land in the spring or fall, are good
measures to prevent a recurrence of the
army worm.
WHAT TO DO FOR LAWNS
for SHihIi areas IKE ld"ns anu private
grounds, the poison bait mentioned above
may be used. Equally efficient is the ap
plication Of spray of one pound arsen-
ate of lead dissolved In % gallons Of
water If the powdered arsenate of lead
is more easily obtainable. one pound of
this may be mixed with eight pounds Of
-four and busted on the grass where the
worms are feeding. 1t must be remem-
bered that arsenate of lead is deadly
poison to men and animals, as we'll as -
army worms.