The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-19
CORN
 BOXER PLAYS
 HAVOC HERE w SA

EIFa g UU HaAlgA
 This pest is established in Massa- chusetts. Of all the foreign plant pests introduced into this country this one stands pre- eminently at the head of the list in destructive ability From what we already know of the omn1verous habit of this insect, it would seem that there is hardly any annual plant in whicsh it will not thrive. If corn were the only crop damaged by this borer, the situation would be most serious, but when we consider the many other, valuable food crops attacked by the insect, its gen .eral spread throughout the country would entail an economic loss of the utmost consequences.
 This borer is widely distributed through Central and Southern Europe, West, Central and Northern Asia and Japan. Its food plants in those coun- tries consist mainly of corn, hemp, hops, miIlet, and several wild grasses. Fifty per cent. of the hop and corn crops have been destroyed by this pest in some sections of Central Eu- rope. Most pests are held in check in their native habitat by natural ene- mics, but the enemies of this insect do not seem as yet to have been dis covered abroad. No enemies of the pest have been found here.
 l Although it has not been definitely determined when or how the borer reached this country, the evidence would indicate that it arrived about 1 1910 in hemp imported from Europe, l The favOrite food plant of the Flu ropean Corn Borer is corn, including sweet, field, fodder and pop corn. In addition to corn there is a long list of other valau'ble plants, in which 1t has been found in healthy vigorous condition in this country, among which are: oats, tomatoes, beans, po- tatoes, beets, celery, spinach and 1 Swiss chard of the cultivated crops; dahlias, gerc liums and chrysanthe- mums of the cultivated flowers; barn yard grass, fox-tail grass, lamb s quarters, ladies' thumb, burdock, cookie burr, rag weed, dock, horse weed, mares tail and beggar's ticks among the weed plants. It may be
 said in general that the corn bprer will feed on almost any annual plant
 which is at all succulent. Consider
 ing the varied taste of this pest, there is little doubt that further investiga- tion will reveal many more plants on
 which it will feed.
 The larvae of the European Corn BOrer pass the winter in nearly full grown condition within their food
 plants. With the approach of warm weather they continue their feeding and soon become full grown. The larva then bores it's way to the sur face of the food plant where 1t makes ! a slight hole which is to serve as ar
 exit for the resulting moth. A cocoor
 Is formed in the 1buFrcw by the larve
 in which it pupates. The pupatior
 period is about two weeks, and the
 adult moth emerges during the latter part of May The moth lives aibou
 two weeks during which time it de
 posits it's eggs from 300 to 700 in mum
 Der on the food plants. In about fivt days the eggs hatch, and the yount
 larvae begin to feed on the tende
 shoots of the plants. As they increas
 in size, they finally bore their wa, into the main stem of the plant.
 In about six weeks after the egg ? hatch, the larvae are full grown
 Having burrowed through all parts o the plant, the larvae pupate as before [ and emerge as moths about the las week in July. The females of th1 l. second brood are more prolific tha, e the first and lay from 500 to go
 eggs. It is the larvae from these egg : which do the greatest damage to corr
 since they attack the tassel, stock an 7, ear, and continue feeding until col I weather. The work of the borer 1 3 the tassel causes the breaking off C
 the lower head, which results in in @ complete fertilization. Ears fro1 8 these injured plants often bear onI 7, a few grains to each cob, and in man n cases the cob is fully formed, br a produces no kernels. Field count Il made during the past season resulte IT in finding as high as 311 full grow
 larvae in one hill of corn. In on Y test 75 plants were dissected and q
 average of 46 larvae were found 1 l each plant Plants so affected al l. thoroughly honey-combed and fall | q the ground The ears of corn al
 bored through from the bottom to tc IA and from side to side, the borers feeC 4 ing upon the kernels while they al soft. Complete destruction of the es
 is generally accomplished either r ., the borer, or through decay whfC follows the injury. When we thin . that the one moth which emerges r May can be responsible for fro ' 100000 to 300, GOO larvae in one seaso
 and that single larva is capable io destroying an ear of corn, we g some conception Of the damage whi> . this pest can do. The corn crop k Eastern Massachusetts is mostly ma S' keted as green corn, and one farm - who ordinarily sells fpom 5000 to 50
 dozen ears daily, this year lost pra
 ticaIly all of his late corn.
 - To show how rapidly this pest ms t. be expected to overrun the countr if. it should be noted that 1t has be, 'S. here only about eight years and
 day an area of over 325 square mile + mainly north and west of Boston, ne known to be infested The origin
 colony most pr5oably consisted of - very few insects. It is certain tn ar it's natural spread is rapid, but the a all tificiaj spread by railroad trains, a
 tomobiles and other transportati " agencies, at once, lays the wht ill country open to danger, The fema itv moth lives about two weeks In whi 20, time it could be carried to any pe ms of the country, and the wide range re- food plants of the pest would enaa 9ss its young to become established in
 most any locality in which the mo .os might be deposited. Therefore, t . public should be warne5 to be on 1