The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-15

future of America greatest crop. ms pest plies his trade with the industry of a beaver to the extent that he IS the most dangerous plant pest that has yet immigrated from foreign fields to the corn lands of Uncle Sam. The larvae, or borers, hungry as half-starved rats, tun- nel through all parts of the corn plant excepting the roots, and destroy or se- verely injure the ears and stalks. That their diet may have variety they also at tack celery, Swiss chard, beans, beets. spinach, oats, potatoes, tomatoes, tuf- nips, as we'll as dahlias, chrysanthemums, gladiolas, geraniums, timothy, other grasses and weeds. Two generations oc- cur each year. so that multiplication and spread are rapid, especially as lew are destroyed by natural enemies.
 Specialists of the United states Depart ment of Agriculture, in Farmers Bulletin 104s describe the danger to American corn by the presence of the European corn borer in eastern Massachusetts They surmise that the pest was lntro' duced in raw hemp imported from Flu rope for use in Massachusetts cordage factories, or possibly in bales of broom corn imported by factories in central New York. There are 9 towns in Massachu-
 setts, including an area Of about 5zo square miles infested with the insect. which has been confined to the limits of its original infection except for an out break discovered in January in the vicin-
 itv of Schnectady, N Y, covering ah area of approximately 400 square miles.
 HOW THE BORER WORKS
 The larvae, or borers. tunnel through all
 parts of the corn plant except the horous
 roots, They cause the most serious
 damage by their work in the stalks and ears which they partially or totally de- stroy. Generally they enter the stalk al it's upper end and near the base or the tassel. and at first tunnel upward. rms damage so weakens the tassel stalk that it breaks over before the tassei ma lures, resulting in loss of pollen ana the lack of normal grain formation on the ears. These broken tassels. with ex- trusons of sawdust-like material at the breaks. are the most conspicuous signs
 of infestation in the field. Field counts Tn badly infested areas have shown as many
 as 60 per cent of the tassels broken
 over in this manner After destroying
 the tasse the borers tunnel down"aru
 through the stalk, gradually increasing
 the size of their tunnels as they ue-
 yelop. Instead of entering the stalk near
 the tassel many of the borers enter be'
 tween the leaf sheath and stalk at poine lower down. and tunnel upward or doWh-
 ward according to their individual pretee' ences When several or many borers are working within the same stalk it soon IS
 reduced to a mere she'll This injury cuts off the supply of nutriment from the de-
 veloping ear and greatly weakens the stalk. which eventually breaks over. Some of the partly grown borers leave the stalk and enter the ears through the husks and also through the stem and COD Here they feed upon the immature gram and tunnel through all parts of the cob. EGGS LAID IN SUMMER
 In July and August many of the moths deposit their eggs directly upon the newly developed ears of late corn. The result ing crop of borers feed at first upon the silk and then enter the ears directly
 here they feed voraciously upon the grain and cob. As many as 15 full-growr borers, each about an inch long. have been found feeding upon and within q single ear of corn. This extensive in | iury to the ear results in it's complete | destruction. Some idea of this damage may be gained from the fact that {, | plants, comprising IT hills, were selected at random from a badly infested Massa- chusetts corn field, and all the borers found therein were carefully removed ane counted Forty-six borers, on an average were found in each plant, while one ol l the plants contained IF borers. One hil consisting of four plants contained 3ll borers At the average rate Of 46 borers A plant. an acre of corn would contain | over 1000 900 of these pests. The borers en' | ter and damage other crops mentioned previously in the same way as described | for corn, but usually to less serious de gree. In addition to the actual loss caused bv the work of the borers, there is alse l the possibility that some of these prod rcts. when shipped to market, may con | tain the insect and thus serve as car
 riers of the pest to new localities.
 DANGER IN SPREADING INSECT
 Although the female moths of the Eu' 1 ropean corn borer are capable of flight 1 and may extend gradually. the present | limit of the pest by natural spread, the l chief danger of the country's corn croi lies in the possibility that plant materia 1 infested by the insects may be transport. ed throughout the country and start other 1 sources of infestation. In order to com bat this danger it will be necessary te strictly enforce all federal and state quar- antines, prohibiting the transportation | out of the infested area of all plants | or plant products likely to be infected | by the borers.
 A most effective method of destroying
 the European corn borer is to burn al | of the previous years cornstalKs' corr
 stubble, crop remnants and stalks oI sa,,
 den plants, weeds and larger grasses tha may contain the over-wintering oorers
 This must be done during the late fall
 winter and early spring while the porers
 are hiding in such material. Infested l plants may also be disposed of wheI
 ora actically by feeding them to live stoct os by burying them in manure or com post heap. It should be clearly unoer
 stood that each and every plant likel.
 to be infested must be destroyed Ths
 includes the stubble and upper part ol
 the roots. Occasionally plants or parts ol plants which may seem hardly worti
 the trouble to clean up are likely to har
 bor enough borers to give rise. by th' | end of the season, to as many insects al
 were present before the cleanup oper
 ations began
 Complete burning Is undoubtedly th'
 most effective and cheapest methot