The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1924-06-05
Somerset County Agricultural News
War on the Corn BOrer

The following article, taken from
a recent issue of the Literary Digest
Is being published at the request of
Skowhegan citizen and doubtless
will prove Of much interest to agri-
calturists engaged in the raising of
corn. The article is as follows:
Our corn belt. the worlds greatest
food-producirg area. is threatened by
the advance of a European insect
army. To meet the menace of the
invading eorn-borers at the frontier.
eighty entomologists. agronomists.
and county farm-agents from Illinois.
Indiana. Ohio and the Federal Gov
eminent viii this month offer a
great offensive along n wide front in
northern Ohio according to war plans
outlined by Prof. George A. Dean of
the L. S. Bureau of Entomology. An
expert. We are told in Science Ser
vices Daily Science News Bulletin
Washington will be placed in every
township of the infested area, and
some 10000 farms will be visited to
show farmers how to check the
spread of fhe insects by destruction
of the remnants of last years crop.
Later in the season some 10000 in
sect allies, drafted from among the
foes of the eorn-bOrer in it's native
land, will also be used in the fight.
We read further:
THE European corn-bOrer entered
America very probably in broom corn
shipped from Italy or Hungary. 1t
was discovered attacking sweet corn
near Boston in 1917, and since then
il has been a limiting factor in the
growing of sweet corn in eastern
Massachusetts. Another extensive
area was occupied around Schenecta-
dy, New York. The insects also gain
ed a foothold in a wide section north
of Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada.
Later the territory along the Ameri-
can shore of the lake in New York,
Ohio, and southeastern Michigan be-
came infested. Last year a marked
spread of corn-borers was noted in
northwestern Ohio, which is the be-
ginning of the great corn belt of
America.
The strategic Importance of this
infestation in respect to the Corn
Belt aroused other CONTRASTING
States. Illinois, two hundred miles
from the present front, is sending ex-
perts to Ohio to cooperate in the work
as is the yet uninvaded State of In
diana. Canadian authorities are
working with the Americans.
I'm the fall. the cOrn-borer. in the
form of a brownish caterpillar or
worm about an inch long, which has
been tunneling into the plant, hiber-
mates for the winter.
"As soon as warm weather begins
in April or May, the borer becomes
active again, and about the middle of
May 1t cuts a small circular opening
from its tunnel to the surface of the
plant in order to provide an exit for
the future moth. II then closes this
hole with a thin partition of silk and
goes back into its dugout gallery
where it spins a thin cocoon. About
the first week of June, the borer
energies as q moth which can cover
as much as 400 yards in a nonstop
flight and travel anywhere from five
to ten miles. The female moth u.s.
TALLY lays her nearly fiat little eggs in
clusters on the under side of a leaf.
The young borer, Matched from these
eggs, eats for "A while on the leaves,
and then starts digging itself into
corncobs. weeds, or other plants.
where it completes most of it's devel-
opment incidentally injuring the
plant.
THE corn-borer attacks all parts
of the plant. and while it prefers corn
and sorghum, there are some 200
species Of plants which it is known
to attack. The most successful
method of getting rid of this pest has
been found to be the destruction of
the remnants of the crop in which the
borers hibernate.
"EntOmologists at the United States
at Hyeres, near Marseilles,
France, have discovered a parasite
known as Exeristes roboratOr, which
may prove an effective ally in check
ing the further spread of the borers
by preying on their young, which 1T Is
able to locate through cornstalks or
even burdock stalks. Fifty thousand
of these insect foes of the corn-borer
will be released this summer in the
infested areas of Ohio and New York.