The Dickinson press., 1914-06-06

Gg I'D. nEsEn - V1ASI- O1Sp1o .-- &..-.# -.r|
Many letters are coming in to the
N. D. Experiment Station regarding
the wire-worm.
The wire-worm which is the larval
stage of a small black beetle is of a
yellowish brown color with a shining
surface and a diameter about equal
to that of a wheat straw just below
the head. Its length depends upon
the age of the larva. It lives for
three years in the ground in the lar
val stage. During the first season it
attains a length of five-eighths of an
inch and is light in color, being al
most white when first Matched from
the egg and it gradually takes on a
yellowish tinge. The second season
they are still darker in color and
somewhat larger in diameter. By
the end of the second season they are
nearly an inch in length. At the be-
ginning of the third seaso they
have changed but little in appearance,
being somewhat larger in size. Dur
ing this seasonthey go into the pulp
stage, emerging later on as beetles.
The beetles select grass lands or stub
BILE lands that have lain barren for a
year, in whichrto lay their eggs. The
eggs hatch in the fall and the insect
hlbernates in the larval stage. If
this land is put into any kind of a
grain crop in the spring the wire
worms will eat the germ out of the
kernels just as they r s%prouting.
They are especially injurious in this
manner to corn and wheat.
Some of the farmers this spring
have complained of a complete de-
struction by wire-worms of the wheat
that is grown on timothy sod. Dur
ing the early part of the season the
wire-worm keeps within two or three
inches of the surface of the soil or at
the depth at which the grain is sown.
After the first of June they go to a
greater depth, feeding then upon the
rots of the plants and doing compare
lively little damage. -a
The question naturally arises as to
what can be done to fields where corn
or wheat has been destroyed. It has
been found that late sown millet or
barley does not suffer much from the
wire-worm, even on land where wheat
had been completely destroyed. This
lis in part due to the fact that the
wire-worms are working deeper in
in the soil and possibly also to the
further fact that they prefer wheat to
barley and millet.
AS the wire-worms are not disposed
of in any one Isl it is equally i'm
portant to know what to sow after
the mil1et or barley are taken off.
The land should then be plowed and
put in shape for winter rye. This
should be seeded during the latter
l NO vi LNf "A =, rrr1e4 "a ~, n n - 6 eoNo ~ 0eEN+1,n
harvest is over. At that time the
wire-worms are still deep down in the
soil and r not likely to damage the
crop materially. Where wire-worms
are not too abundant potatoes have
been considered a safe crop to grow
but last year and the year before we
received complaints Of wire-worms
Having practically destroyed the po-
tatoes by boring into them in the
fall. They seem to be more active
during the early spring and fall than
Through midsummer season. There
lis no treatment Of any kind that will
diminish the number of wire-worms
lin the soil. The only way to do is to
Igrow crops not affected by them and
sow at time of year when wire
worms are least apt to attack GERM
mating seeds. It shuld also be kept
in mind that grass or stubble land
that has been allowed to become
weedy and grassy is pretty sure Il
contain wire-worms if there are any
in that part Of the country. IL The
Igrain is looking poor it would be vel
to dig down A toH5 inches, carefully
examining the soil for wire-wor1ns.
G. B. WALDRON,
N. D. Elk. Station
FOR SALE
Cows, calves, Holstein bull anG
heavy draft mares. Mrs. a. III. Deit
ers.-adv. 5-2-t1