Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-06-22

| prepared by the United States Depart
nent of Agriculture.)
Rotation or alienation of crops is
simple and efficient method of getting
ride of the "curlew bug" widespread
pest in corn and rice fields. Don't
plant corn after corn or rice, or rice
after corn" is a useful maxim to re-
member in localities infested by the
bug.
The curlew bug, which is one of the
so-called "Snout Beetles" or curculios,
about half an inch long, is particularly
fond of swamps and marshes where it
feeds on large-stemmed grasses and
sedges. Of cultivated crops, corn and
rice most closely resemble it's natural
food and in consequence the bug is
menace to these crops in almost every
state in the South and in large sec
tons of the middle West and South
west as we'll. 1t cannot live on the
small grains or on such plants as cot
ton or cowpeas. In consequence If
infested fields are planted to oats, rye,
barley cotton or cowpeas, the curlew
bug disappears at once.
In practice, cotton, cowpeas, or win
ter oats will probably be the best
crops to use for this purpose in the
South. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis-
souri,, southern Wisconsin and Arkan-
sas, oats, rye, barley or cowpeas. After
a year of one of these crops, the field
no nlo 70 If the
pest returns, a similar alienation
should be resorted to once more.
The curlew bug will remain in an
infested cornfield throughout the win
ter and, if the field is planted to corn
again, come out in the spring to feed
upon the young corn plants. By means
of it's long snout, at the end Of which
are situated the mouth and jaws, the
beetle punctures the stem of the plant
and thus either secures it's food or
deposits it's eggs. Usually the ta~2c,
ture- is made a little below ,tlac sur
face of the ground and GA,tends into
the crown of the plant. If the pune
ture is made just above the root, the
plant will throw up number of It'll
lers" and suckers while the main
stem itself will be without ears and
stalky in appearance. In this respect
the work of the curlew bug produces
somewhat the same effect as that of
the Hessian fly on a young wheat
plant in the fall. If the puncture is
made higher up on the stem, food is
obtained from the folded leaves above
the crown. When these leaves finally
push forth, the effect of the puncture
made by the beetles snout is revealed
by rows of holes across the leaves.
Frequently there will also be a dis
.orted growth on the stem.
While the damage done by the bee
lies in feeding or laying their eggs is
IN many cases doubtless severe-f
the corn plants are very young at the
time of attack they are probably de-
stroyed in this way-generally speak
ing the greatest damage is caused by
The larvae Matching from the eggs, es-
pecially in the East. The grubs of
this insect apparently can live without
difficulty for a considerable length
of time in the stems of plants that are
completely covered by water.
With these insects in full possession
of a field, there does not appear to be
any thoroughly practical and effective
measure for preventing or overcoming
their ravages, which frequently result
in a total loss of the crop. While
throwing up the soil or killing up the
young plants with the cultivator might
prevent the beetles themselves from
pVpcturing the stems low enough down
to cause the plants to sucker or be-
come distorted, this is by no means
assured. We only know that the high
er up the insect punctures the stem
the more likely is the attack to result
only in the transverse rows of holes
across the leaves. In any case this
ridging or killing up would only form
a slight protection against the injuri-
Gus effects of the feeding of the bee
ties. Once the larvae have started to
burrow their way downward in the
stem there is no way whereby they
can be reached by any measure likely
to seriously affect them.
HeIns for Peach Grouths To ControI