Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1916-06-23
Poison for Cutworms.

crops about the time in the spring
when the grain begins sprouting. Be.
tween this time and late June or early
July they often prove disastrous to the
farmer. The worm, however, SC
closely resembles the color of the soil
in which it rests during the day that
the cause of the crop injury is not
| always apparent. In such cases a
careful examination of the soil sur
rounding the damaged plant will pro-
badly reveal the worm curled up in a
little ball.
When cutworms are abundant on
corn land, the use of poisoned bait is
recommended in Farmres Bulletin
739, a new publication on this subject
by W. R. Walton and J. j. Davis, of
the department. The poisoned bait
may be prepared by mixing so pounds
of wheat bran, 2 pounds of Paris
green, and 6 finely chopped oranges or
lemons. Low-grade molasses is
added until the whole mixture attains
the consistency of a stiff dough.
Water may also be added if necessary,
and middlings or alfalfa meal may be
substituted for bran. This bait should
be distributed over the infested field
in small Jumps and sprinkled sparing-
ly around each hill. In cases where
the field is known to be infested, this
bait should be distributed as soon as
the corn appears above the ground and
before the cutworms have had an op-
portunity to do much damage. 1t is
best to apply the bait during the late
afternoon or early evening hours, as
the cutworms do most of their feeding
at night. A narrow band of the poi
soned bait placed around the edge of
the field will assist in protecting the
field from an invasion of the worms
from the adjoining grassland.
While these measures will aid in
minimizing damage from cutworms
after the fields have been infested, it
is always advisable to prevent the in
vasion if possible by control measures
in the preceding year. Grassland,
which is intended to plant to grain in
the spring, should be plowed in mid
summer or early fall about the time
the grayish or brownish moths, which
are the parents of the cutworms, lay
their eggs. This removes the vege-
tation which the moths desire for
their eggs. The earlier in the year
grasslands are plowed the less will be
the probability that cutworm moths
will have laid their eggs on them
and in consequence the less Will be
the danger of injury the following
year.
Late fall and winter blowing also
will destroy many of the alternating
cutworms as well as such other pests
as white grubs. This, therefore,
should be practiced when earlier plow-
ing is impracticable. Farm poultry
trained to follow the pillow are also of
great value in destroying the pest,
and hogs that are allowed to pasture
upon land that harbor cutworms will
root up and devour great quantities
of the insects.
In most cases the moths lay their
eggs in the late summer or early fall
in fields which are covered with grass
or weeds. The worms hatch in few
weeks, feed on this vegetation until
cold weather, and then hibernate as
partly grown caterpil lars. When the
infested field is broken up and plant
ed to corn or other wide-row crops
in the spring the worms are deprived
of their natural food and are COM
PEELED to attack the newly planted
crop. They continue to consume an
enormous amount of food until they
have attained their full growth, and
change to the pupal or resting stage
in late June or early July.