Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-09-11

tnat we nave GOT TO DC
battle with other kinds Of foes that
cannot be halted by threat or the pa
rade of armed forces. Our antago-
nists this time are hordes of the boil
weevil and the army worm.
From Washington comes the news
that the army worm has appeared
again in Texas and that II has started
to work It's way northward right
through the regions where our wheat
fields flourish. 1t isn't problem of
guarding against the vast swarms
which may have their origin in the far
South, for those particular worms will
really have but circumscribed zone
of aggressive movement; the task is
to watch for them everywhere. The
mildness of the past winter has ia
vored the survival of many insects that
otherwise would have been killed.
Therefore extra millions of these in
sects are alive and multiplying their
kind.
The army worm is particularly de-
structive to wheat, corn and other
cereals, grasses and kindred forage
plants. 1t is known to attack corn in
a manner similar to the well known
corn-ear worm. The young larvae de-
your the tender folded leaves and, as
the worms increase In size. they fire.
quently burrow right into the heart
of the growing ear and destroy 1t.
AS far back as 1897 mention is made
in natural history of the army
worms hurtful ways. During the sum-
mer and fall of 1916 the army worm
busted itself in Florida. and ten years
later 1t aroused apprehension.
According to the entomologists there
may be from two to three generations
of the army worm during single
summer. And the same experts as
sure us that each succeeding genera
tion usually becomes more destructive
than that which preceded it. The au-
shorities are, commonly agreed that the
army worm, especially the fall army
worm, Is of southern origin, and this
fact helps to explain why it does not
appear yearly in conspicuously in
furious numbers, Its instinct prompts
it to strive continually to obtain a
foothOld farther north than it's natural
range, and here is where weather con-
ditions play an important part in its
life history and Its propagation in
higher latitudes. Ordinarily, if the
season is against them, they are killed
off in great numbers during the fall
and winter and therefore compare
lively few are left to multiply their
kind the following spring and summer
The early appearance of the army
worm in Texas may justify, the fear
that states considerably to the north
have become .restocked by the flight of
the parent moths from the southern
breeding grounds in the warm swamp
lands. The moth which produces the
fall army worm is member of the
night-fying variety, and is of the same
family which includes the parents of
the baneful cut worm, an Importation
from the old world, with long years of
American acclimatization.
1t Is the habit of these nocturnal
moths to develop their eggs In clusters
on grasses. but when these insects oc-
cur in very large numbers they do
this on leaves and twigs of trees as
well as on the outer walls of build
ings. The eggs are laid In lots of
from fifty to sixty. The larvae at first
are frequently SO dark as to escape
observation, except when moving in
numbers, and their whereabouts are
further concealed by the normal habit
Of hiding In the deep grass during the
day time and feeding mostly at night.
This explains why one may go to bed
with his field, garden, or lawn I'M
married. only to arise at dawn to find
the place devasted. The mature army
worm rangesefrom an inch to an inch
and a half in length and Is about d
quarter of an inch through.
The life history of the army worm
is not a long one. The first of the
larvae or worms are from eggs de-
posted the fall beforel Their manner
Il B. /