The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1915-04-29

soil. The GROUND leotlvtl, c. { it had
Been summer Ial.owed. Noe Il sign
ct the crop was 20 be seen and dur
LIS the middle OF the day no cut
worms were in sight. BY removing
he first inch Of soil however, we
ere able to md from fifteen to
-orty worms to the square foot. 1T
about sunset the caterpilgars emerg-
ID from the ground, and then con-
s,ituted a formidable and destruct-
i've army
The destruction to grain wrought
Nv the outbreak in the Ca}latin va
ley in 1927 was remarkable. -Four
thousand five hundred and siXty-two
acres were reported to us by letter
as being more or less affected. Two
thousand six hundred and ten acres
we're reported as beirg completely
destroyed SO that re-seeding was
necessary. 1t was perfe lily clear,
h"weyer, that our information COW
cred only part Of the affected terri
tory and the total injury was great
er than above indicated. The lar
vac appeared in Incredible numbers
and completely devoured every
green thing.
Mr.. s. Arthur Johnson in bu7lctin
2S of the Colorado Experiment Sta
ton Says ''At Aurora, near Denver
in 1908, the larvae were SO abund-
ant that they ate of, entire fields Of
alfalfa. Tho early garden crops
were almost entirely destroyed.
The larvae covered the sidewalks in
such numbers that it was impossible
TO walk without crushing them I'M
der the feet. They crawled in at
the doors and became a household
BEST. Mr.. Rauchfuss saved his gar
den by hunting the worms with a
lantern at night. 1he field injuries
were most noticeable IN the cases OF
early sown barley, sugar beets and
alfalfa Of one years standing"
The same writer, speaking Of the
moths, says in the same bulletin:
I'm the suburbs of Denver they
fairly besieged the houses when the
lamps were lighted. In a very few
minutes after dusk the windows and
screen doors would be covered with
moths. They crept in by every
crack and crevice much to the an
noyance of the people who were at
times forced to put out the lights
and retire to escape the enemy. The
insects were noticeably more abund-
ant at houses near alfalfa fields"
Up to the present time more dam
age has been done to grains, prin-
cipally winter wheat, and to alfalfa
than to other field crops, but the
caterpillars eat very wide range Of
plants and have not refused any
kind of food that has been put in
their cages. Where weeds and
grain are growing together the
grain only is attacked. The tops of
sugar beets are readily eaten and
this crop has been injured in some
cases. They are a general garden
pest and we do not consider that
any crops, with possible few eX-
ceptions, are free from them
BY the time winter sets in the
caterpillars have reached an aver
age length OF perhaps a half inch
though there is a great variety in
size. The size reached in the fall
depends 10 some extent upon the
amount Of warm weather. In the
fall of 1906 the weather continue9
warm we'll into the fall and the cut
worms grew to be so large and ate
so much that they attracted atten
ton and when reported to the Elk
pertinent Station made it possible tt
predict that serious losses would
be suffered the next spring.
: When cold weather sets in thu
cater pillars cease to feed and re
main dormant until the followin!
| spring In the winter of 1906
} anxious farmers in the Gallatin val
ley went out and dug out some o
= the larvae from under the snow
, and, taxing them into the house
found them to be as lively as ever.
l With the first starting of vegeta
ton in the early spring the caterpil
5 lars are again active and feeding
2 They grow rapidly and about tn
first to the tenth of May the mos
r advanced of them have reached ful
4 size and begin to disappear int
y their earthen cells to pupate. B
: the end of May nearly all have dis
e appeared from the grain fields bu
il, the gardens and in cultivate
f crops much damage may be done al
n ter this date.
n From the records we have Sc
e cured it is apparent that ii there
f a second brood of the insects i
:. Montana, as it is believed there
s in Colorado, it must pass throug
n all of it's transformations betWee
= early in August and not later tina
e the middle of October. That tn
d can occur does not seem probab
h for the larval stage requires at lea
q six weeks and at least nine weel