The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-20
ARMY WORM IS
STILL OUTSIDE
COUNTY BORDER
Wayne Crops Free From Pest
That Has Spread Over
Northeastern Indiana.

Until Friday noon. no reports had
been received that the army worm
had reached the borders OF Wayne
county. Farmers surrounding Dublin,
where the plague has come nearest
the county. reported that the worm
had not spread over the line, and ap-
parenuy Is keeping respectful dis
lance. Unless q sporadic outbreak
occurs in some other portion, the army
worm may not invade the county at
all. 1t was thought.
COVERS PART OF STATE.
LAFAYETTE. Ind, June 20.-Re-
ports to Purdue university here Thurs.
day showed that practically the entire
northern and central crop areas Of
Indiana are In the grip of army worms.
Farm experts at the institution re-
gard the visitation. which started the
first Of the week. as the worst In
years. Good progress against the
pests. however. is being made in
places.
Not only Is the infected region large
but the number of worms found in all
localities Is larger than heretofore.
There are SO many of them that when
the leaders Of the advancing army
are disposed Of by control methods
there are millions that crawl over the
bodies Of their mates and carry for
ward the work of destruction.
Urges Daily Inspection.
A warning was sent out during the
day that farmers all over the state
should inspect their fields daily
whether or not they are in the in
fected region. The sooner the pres
ence Of the worm is detected the bet
ter the opportunity to stop them be
fore extensive damage is done. The
pests do most of their work at night
and are not especially active during
the day. On that account many farm
ers are deceived and do not realize
that the worms are in their fields un
til damage has been done.
The Purdue experts are firm In their
belief that the most practical method
of fighting the pests is the trench
systeIn, and the use Of poisoned bait
Professor James Troop, chief entomol
cgist, said that he doubted whether
gasoline could be employed to any
advantage. rs for the use of crude
oil he said. IT may be helpful when
Used III tho trenches to stop the
wo-1as. but that he thought coal oil
would serve the purpose better.
Tranek Fighting Plans.
Professor Troop called attention tc
tie importance of digging the death
trench deep enough and long enough
80 conDlish its purpose. 1t is not
always necessary to encircle the fiel6
with trench, as a good deep trench
running directly across the path the
worms are known to be taking, is gen
orally sufficient In many instances
where the trench has not been dug
deep enough. the worms pile into il
and soon fill it completely up, permit
ting others to pass through in safety
The worms generally travel in ont
direction and it is easy to locate the
trench in its proper place. After thu
trench is dug, especially when in ella,
soil, log should be dragged through
it in order to remove the smooth ella.
surface of the upturned soil. Thi
causes dust to form on the smooth
furrow and checks the advance of TIL
worms The use of crude oil scat
tered in front of the worms woult
only be effective in causing the worm
to stick fast and thus delay thei
progress.