The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-12-02
FIGHTING THE cUTwoRM.
Poisoned Bats Most Successful in Com
batting This Pest.


Tomatoes, cabbages, sweet potatoes
and other vegetables and garden plants,
and especially those which are started
under glass and transplanted, are subject
to serious injury by cutworms, says a
western papers. These pests appear some.
times In great numbers in the spring and
early summer and frequently do severe
injury before their rayages are noticed.
Their method of attack is TO cut of the
young plants at about the surface of the
ground, and as these caterpillars are Of
large size and yoracious feeders, they
are capable of destroying many plants
in single night--frequently more than
they can deyour. Every year these in
sects, working generally throughout the
United States, have destroyed hundreds
of thousands of dollars worth of crops.
BY the timely application of remedies,
however, as has been demonstrated
through field agents and other entomol-
ogists Of the department of agriculture,
they readily can be controlled, and large
areas have been successfully treated.
The usual method of control is by the
use of poisoned bats.
Take bushel OF dry bran, add one
pound of white arsenic or paris green
and mix it thoroughly into mash with
eight gallons Of water in which has been
stirred half gallon of sorghum or 9TH
er cheap molasses. This amount will be
sufficient for the treatment of about
four or five acres of cultivated crops.
After the mash has stood for several
hours, scatter it, in Jumps about the
size of marble, over the fields where
the injury is beginning to appear and
about the bases of the plants set out.
Apply late in the day, so as to place
the poison about the plants before night,
which is the time when the cutworms are
active. Apply second time if neces-
sary.
When cutworms occur in unusual album
dance, which happens locally, and some
times generally, in some seasons, they
exhaust their food supply and are driven
to migrate to other fields. This they
do literally in armies, assuming what is
called the army worm habit. At such
times it is necessary to treat them the
same as army worms. While the meth
DDS which have been advised are valuable
n such cases, they may be too slow to
iestroy all the cutworms, and other
Methods must be employed. These in
'lude trenching, ditching, the blowing
# deep burrows in advance of the trav-
ling cutworm TO trap them, and the
lragging of logs or brush through the
urrows. III the trenches can be filled
With water, the addition of a small
uantity of kerosene so as to form a
hin scum on the surface, will prove fatal
0 the cntworms. In extreme cases, bar
iers of fence boards are erected and the
ops smeared to stop the cutworms as
hey attempt TO crawl over.
In extremely severe attacks by cut
Torms TO choice plants there is some
ines no opportunity to prepare the poi
Dned bait. In such cases arsenate of \
'ad or paris green spray will answer
ute as well. In one instance parsley u
ED was sprayed with four pounds of \
rsenate OF lead to so gallons of water; /
his killed all the eutworms, whereas n U
hey had been left alone for a day or =
40 longer the field probably would have
cen destroyed. The result, however.
as perfect stand--the best ever made .
= the grower. In this case five applica-
ons were made.
Clean cultural methods and crop rota-
on are advisable, as are also fall plow- 81
g and disking, to prevent occurrences CT
cutworm attacks. Many cutworms fl
n be destroyed where it is possible TO b
'erhow the fields, particularly where ST
rigation is practiced. 81