The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1915-05-21
THE SOUTHERN CORN
BEETLE.
A Pest That Often Escapes
servation But Does /Mu
Damage-Recent Out
breaks In Wissou,
and Texas.

ATTACHED in the - OF
Charleston, Mo-, it ID nee
essary to replant II fields
have suffered less d account of
being on higher landl/ Another of
the outbreaks has been reported
from Utopia, Tex, where serious
depredations have been worked to
corn by this pest. At this time
the beetles can be killed, accord
ing to the experts of the Bureau
of Entomology, by use of poison
ed bait composed of twenty-five
pounds of wheat bran, one pound
of Paris green, one gallon of low
grade molasses, the juice of three
oranges. and sufficient water add
ed to bring the mixture to stiff
dough. A heaping teaspoonful Of
this mixture scattered about each
hill of corn where the beetles are
at work, proves very attractive to
these insects, especially applied in
late afternoon. If the corn is
drilled, the mixture should be
scattered along the drill rows.
This pest has become of con-
siderable Importance in the past
few years and is found in the
southern half of the United
States, but up to the present it
has not been discovered in Tenn
essee, North Carolina, South Car
DINA or Georgia. 1t extends as
far north as southern Iowa, cen
trail Illinois and central Ohio.
Besides the method of elimin-
ating the beetle as described
above, the cleaning up of all rub
Dish in the cOrnfields early in the
fall, especially on the low black
soils, and delaying the planting of
corn in the spring are two meth
DDS of lessening the damage from
the southern corn leaf-beetle.
The beetle itself is a small, dark
bronzed insect about three-siX-
teenths of an inch long and about
one-third as wide, usually more or
less covered with soil. When dis
turbed they drop from the plant
on which they are feeding and
hide so successfully that the farm
err is often unable to discover
why his corn is so seriously dam
aged.
The adult beetles lay their eggs
early and always in the vicinity
of the corn plant, after which they
disappear from the fields. The
larvae hatch in from six to fif-
teen days and feed on the corn
plants or on cocklebur. Some
where between the first of July
and the middle of August the lar
vac enter the pupa stage, which
appears to last approximately fif-
teen days, when the beetle of the
first generation energies. Be
tween then and Information early
in the fall, the beetles feed among
other things on the kernels of UNI
ripe ears of corn, and on the buds
of cockleburs. In cornfields
they hibernate under piles of
corn husks, fodder and shocks,
etc, to emerge again in the spring
to lay their eggs. But the beetles
frequently appear in destructive
numbers on young growing corn
planted on sod lands where the
ground had not been cultivated
the previous year.
If the cornfelds OH the lower
flat lands are cleaned up early in
the fall, they will not be suitable
places for Information, and the
beetles will be forced to scatter
elsewhere. When necessary, il
seems that they can travel con-
siderable distances without diff
Guilty. 1t is. also well to turn UNI
der uncultivated lands when it is
expected to plant corn the follow
ing spring. If these precautions
are neglected and the beetles in
fest the field early the next year,
they are likely to do so much dam
age before the farmer becomes
aware. of their presence, that the
crop is practically destroyed. In
such cases, replanting can be re-
sorted to, because the insects will
leave the field few days after
they have killed out the first
planting. Another significant
fact is that the insects appear
with considerable regularity from
the south to the north. AS a con
sequence it seems possible to de
lay the planting of corn until the
beetles have disappeared.