Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-06-24
Army Worm Appears
In Nearby States

worm mas Deen detected III SOutHeiu
Illinois. and also in southern Mis-
souri,, and the scientists are making
every effort to give information upon
control Of this pest. 1t Is expected
that the worm will appear in the
sections lying north and northeast
of the area infested at present.
Probably this will occur within three
or four weeks. and farmers are urged
to be ready with their defense.
Briefly the control of the pest Is
effected by means OF poisoned bats.
poisoned sprays upon crops not in
tended to be used as forage. and by
the construction OF bitches ard
traps where the masses OF caterpil-
lars can be caught and crushed with
. long drag.
For the next three months the
fields Of growing grass and grain
must be watched carefully and, when
tho worm IL discovered, the attack
should be pressed with the utmost
vigor to prevent the peat from forty
flying his position- Once intrenched
tho army worm will claim large
slice Of farm profits for his indem-
nity-millions Of dollars have passed
down the greedy NAV Of the army
worm in the past thirty years.
The true army worm should not
be confused with the 'ioverfow
worm the fall army worm" or
the brass worm" say the federal
entomologists. The genuine article
is 4 nearly naked, smooth. striped
caterpillar about IN inches long.
His greenish body Is marked with
three dark stripes which run, one
down each side ana one down the
back, for tho length OF the body.
The head is greenish brown. speokled
with black.
The army worm operates In mas
ses, and from this characteristic he
derives his name. When large num-
bers Of them are at work In q field
the champinE sound OF their moving
Jaws can be plainly heard az they
devour every blade in sight.
Thin Out the Garden Crops.
Thin your garden crops to an even
stand II you want to produce good
vegetables.
Gardeners usually SOW moro seeds
than are necessary, under the ex-
pectation OF getting q fuller stand.
or at least Of having enough. This
results in no particular harm except
the waste Of seeds, provided the
plants are thinned before they begin
to crowd one another.
Peas very seldom need any thin
ming, as they will thrive when plant
ed quite close together. Beans
planted five seeds to the hill and the
hills twelve inches apart will not
need to be thinned, but II six OF
seven seeds have been dropped. II
will be desirable to thin them, leav-
ing only four or i've in the hill
Corn should always be thinned. "a
three or four stalks In the hill, the
weaker stalks being pulled out leav-
ing only the best. Radishes, unless
too thick. can be allowed to stand
thinning being accomplished by pull
ing up plants for table use as they
reach edible size.
Lettuce II generally sown entirely
too thickiy and to thin the bed, the
small or medium sized plants can be
pulled out and used. Some Of the
plants may be lifted ana transplant
ed, spacing them three or four inches
in each direction so that they will
develop into distinct heads for use
later. Beets are usually planted en-
tirely too thio1kly, partly Au4 70 the
fact that each sees ball oon-
tains two or three seeds and
as q rule. every one OF
these seeds grew. They should
row ana q larger number Of plants
later every other beet shsuid be
pulled out. This last thinning, how
ever. can be restIonsA until the
beets arc large enough to usA
Carrots and parsnips are generally
sown too thickly and must Be
thinned. The thinning should be
done just as soon as tho plants are
large enough to pull out, and as
they are Trimmed, = little loose soil
should be worked In around the
plants that are left. Two or two and
one-half inches Is about the right
distance to leave the carrots and
three to ave inches for parsnips.
II the seed has been sown In q
rather broad drill. the plants can b
left little sigzAg or irregular In the
raw ana = larger number Of plants
accommodated. The distance be-
tween individual plants. however,
should not be less than two inches.
Even then some OF the carrots
should be pulled a. soon az they
are large enough to use, in
order to give the remainder Z
chance.