The Oakes times., 1914-06-18

work of TIE eut WORMS + usnstiesa.
AZ they feed Trey increase n slso,
noling their sktn two o. three times
,efoFe winter. At tie beginning of
winter they ass usually from three.
iourths of IN inch - N inch IN length.
Az winter approaches they bury them.
,elves . short distance below the
ground, where they hibernate. With
the beginning Of spring they again b.
come active. This time feeding upon
he young plants @ they are trans
planted In the garden or upon the
young corn, max or grain plants o.
they begin their growth. Il 10 at this
time Of the year that their destructive
ness becomes more appaxent % their
food supply 10 limited to the young
plants. Where theee young plants are
very numerous q In the grain field It
| is only occasionally that their destruc-
tiveness is sufficient to greatly damage
the crop, though in certain seasons
they have been known to take prac-
tically al Of . field Of wheat or aax.
Their damage is most noticeable with
crops like the corn and garden crops,
where the individual plants are fur
ther apart.
"The larvae keep feeding during the
spring and early summer and after
they have obtained their full size they
5urrow down some four to six inches
below the surface Of the ground and
pupate. They remain in the pupal
stage but few days when they Re-
appear as moths and the egg laying
again begins. As the moths select
places in grass or weeds in which to
deposit their eggs it is obvious that
where land is kept perfectly clean by
cultivation there is little danger Of
cut worms the following season. It
sometimes happens that gardens are
badly infested with cut worms though
they have been kept perfectly clean
during the entire summer. This is
generally due to the fact that the cut
worms come in from the strips Of
grass along the edges Of the garden
or from adjoining lawns or pastures.
We have found that the land which is
covered with two or three inches Of
straw as early as the middle of August
and burned of before the land is
plowed in the fall or spring will be
free from cut worms the following
year. While this method is entirely
practical for gardens it could not, Of
course, be applied to fields, because Of
the labor involved.
ut has been found that early fall
plowing greatly lessons the number of
cut worms. When the land is plowed
early in the fall and Immediately
worked down the cut worms are de-
prived of their source of food and
many Of them will starve before win
ter. Late fall plowing has very lite
effect upon them.
"In gardens we have found it prac-
tical to poison them by scattering q
poisoned bait upon the land before
planting the corn and other crops or
setting out the plants from the hot
beds. This poisoned bait can be pre-
pared by mixing with fifty pounds of
wheat bran, one pound of paris green.
To this should be added about two
quarts of molasses and enough water
to moisten. This sh.u;d be applied to
the land by placing small hand fulls
here and there, two or three yards
apart. 1t is also an advantage to cover
this poisoned bait with hand full of
grass or some other protective mater
ial that the cut worms may seek it
more readily. This remedy would not
be a practical one applied to large
fields. In that case the only practical
measure consists in keeping the land
in which corn is to be planted free
from grass and weeds during the lat
ter part of the summer or else to plow
early in the fall the land that has been
allowed to become weedy and to see
that it is kept clean during the re-
mainder of the season. Plants can be
protected from cut worms by putting
a band of paper around them, ex-
tending an inch into the soil and an
inch above ground. The cut worms
will not eat through the paper. This
method works fine for a small number
Of plants and especially if the pape,
bands are put on when transplanting
"The natural enemies of the cut
worm are the robin and grackel, com.
monty known as the blackbird, though
different than the common blackbirc
that is so numerous at harvest time
The robins may be encouraged by pro.
viding trees where they can builc
their nests. We have counted owe,
one hundred robins in one single fiocl
in the spring all busily engaged il
digging out cut worms. Each on,
probably destroys twenty or more in /,
single day. With the .eip of the bird!
and such remedies as can be put int,
practice the ravages of the cut worn
can be reduced to a .olnt where ou