The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-07-12
FALL ARMY
WORM ON
The WAY
Farmers are Advised How to Pro-
coed to Head Off Pest that
is Working from Texas
to the North

VI tue luii army worm is reported Ii
southern and central Texas and there
Is every reason to believe that it will
work its way northward as the season
advances. Farmers in the line of its
march, therefore, are being warned by
specialists in the United States de.
partment of agriculture to keep a
sharp eye upon their crops, especially
alfalfa, corn and the sorghums in or
der to prevent the pest from getting
a start upon them. When they first
| appear the worms are every small
and feed beneath matted grass, etc,
but they grow rapidly and suddenly
migrate in myriads to the corn or sor-
ghum fields. If the gound between the
| corn rows is grassy the worms will
probably originate there and feed there
until partly grown before attacking the
corn. There is danger, therefore, that
before the farmer is aware of their
presence he will find his corn stripped
TO bare stalks and his alfalfa to bare
stems
Where a close examination Of corn
field shows the presence of the fall
army worm actually attacking the
corn, the department of agriculture
recommends busting the plants with
powdered arsenate of lead, using from
to 5 pounds per acre, mixed with two
or three times it's weight of flour. This
precaution is, of course, out of the
question on forage crops or on corn
afterwards to be used for fodder on
account of the danger of poisoning
stock. In such cases hundred pounds
of wheat bran may be mixed with
couple of pounds of either Paris green
or powdered arsenate of lead prefer
ably the former, and the whole mass
worked into stiff dough by the use
of three or four gallons of molasses and
the juice of half dozen orange or
lemons added thereto. If this is sown
broadcast on the ground where the
worms are at work they will feed upon
1t and be killed. The worms, it has
been found, will come to the poisoned
bait from distances of from five to ten
inches.
In alfalfa fields the immediate cut
ting and curing of the alfalfa is adyis-
able as soon as the infestation has
save the hay crop but will cut off the
food OF the fall army worm and check
thereby the development OF another
generation which may be many times
more destructive than the first. AS
soon as the hay has been removed
from the field, the ground should be
rolled with a heavy roller or brush
dragged, or the poison bait can be
used.
The habit of the moths of descend
ing an inch or two into the ground In |
order to pass into the pupal state, Is
of great Importance in their control |
1t has been estimated that shallow cul- |
tivation will destroy from so to 80 per
cent of the insects at this time, the e.
ficiency of the measure depending up
on the thoroughness with which the
the spiked tooth harrow or the alfalfa
cultivator is best unless it is known
that the disking is not injurious to the
plans. Cultivation of the ground be-
tween the rows of corn has been found
to destroy nearly all of these pupae,
thereby preventing the development of
another generation. Ordinarily, there
are from three to four, or even five
generations of the fall army worm in
the course of year, the damage done
as each successive genera
tion spreads to the northward
When fields are threatened with in
yasion, hut have not as yet become
actually Infested. deep furrow should
be plowed out around the entire cir
of the field. Into this fur
row the advancing worms will fall.
They may then be killed by dragging
a heavy log through the furrow, or in
sections where irrigation is possible,
the furrow may be filled with water
and small quantity of kerosene sprin-
kled over the surface. This will kill
The worms almost instantly II
The fall army worm, when a full
grown caterpillar, is about " inches
N length. The body is striped on a
color from a pale yellowish brown to
black more or less streaked and inter
mixed with dull yellow. On each side
here is broad yellow undulatlng line
nore or less strongly notified with red. I
When very young, however. the cater.
pillar is nearly black The worm will
lttack almost any form of vegetation :
hat is encountered and owes its name Ii
o the fact that except in the extreme a
Iouth II does not appear until much b