The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1915-05-13

depredations of wireworms, ac-
cording to the United States Depart
ment of Agricultures new bulletin
tNo. 1861, "Wireworms Attacking
Cereal and Forage Crops" While
this bulletin is professional paper"
and goes into great detail regarding
the life history and habits of these
pests, it also suggests number of
practical methods for checking or
eradicating this menace to such crops
as wheat, cotton and corn.
Among the birds that are known
to feed on wireworms (either the
larvae that do the damage or the
adult beetles) are the following:
Bobwhite, flicker, mourning dove,
ruffed grouse, crow, Whippoorwill,
California quail, cowbird, bobolink.
Besides the above, certain hawks,
cuckoos, woodpeckers, phoebes, fly
catchers, jays, blackbirds, orioles and
sparrows help the farmer in protect
ing his grain from the undesirable
wireworm.
While the wireworms, when they
do most of their damage are merely
grubs measuring from one-half inch
to over three inches in length, they
are more readily recognized when
grown into adult beetles. These
beetles are known in certain locali-
ties as "click-beetles, "skip-jacks, ="
Swapping bettles," etc. These names
are all derived from the beetles habit
of swapping the fore part of the body
when placed upon its back or held
between the fingers. The worms that
do the damage are usually yellow or
reddish-brown with three pairs of
short legs near the front of the body.
The term wireworm is sometimes
misapplied to the larva Of another
group of beetles. The mealworm,
which feeds upon stored products in
warehouses and granaries, is one of
these false wireworms. The beetles
of this group of insects do not snap
the forepart of the body as do those
of the true wireworm.
One of Worst Pests.
The true wireworm, economically,
is one Of the five worst pests that
attack Indian corn. 1t is amongst
the II worst pests attacking wheat
and oats. With the exception of the
cotton and corn wireworms these in
sects begin their attacks Immediately
after seeding time, when they attack
the seed, eating out the inside and
leaving only the hull. When they are
very numerous they often consume
all the seed, making reseeding nee
essary, and in severe outbreaks a
second reseeding is sometimes made
before stand is obtained.
Aside from the extra labor and
cost of the seed, this delays the
planting of the crop, and If it be
corn, in the Northern States the sea-
son it too short to mature SO late
planted a crop and, except for the
fodder, 1t is failure. Where wire
worms are present, even in very small
numbers, corn will make a pool
stand, which will necessitate the
planting-in of missing hills. In some
regions where these insects are quite
numerous it is customary to SOW
three or four times the amount o.
seed that would normally be neces
sary in order to get good stand.
The wheat wireworm is normally {
grass feeder, living on the roots O.
sod, and with the abundance of its
natural food supply producing no ap
preciable disturbance in the mead
ows, but when the sod land is broker
these wireworms concentrate in thu
drill rows or hills of corn, the usua
crop to follow sod in the Eastern
United States, and often produce alb
solute failure of the crop by destroy
ing the seed and eating off the root
of such plants as may germinate
This species is usually more destruc
tive, therefore, on land recent
broken from sod.
Combating Wheat Wireworm.
To combat the wheat wireworn
the Departments specialist recon
mends plowing sod land immediatel
after the first hay cutting, usual
early in July, when the land is in
tended for corn the following yeaI
This land should be cultivated deep
ly throughout the remainder of tn
Summer.
Land that is in corn and badly in
tested should be deeply cultivate
even at the risk of slightly root
pruning" the corn. This cultivation
should be continued as long as tn
corn can be cultivated, and as 500
as the crop Is removed the fiel
should be very thoroughly cultivate