The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-04-16
Editorial Comment
The Menace TO the Corn Belt
Fargo Forum)

Almost every major farm crop has its natural
enemies as, for instance, the rust disease of wheat
the boil weevl which attacks the cotton plant. the !
sow thistle the hessian fly, the potato bug and
numerous others.
But the corn belt is facing menace, so
grave, with potential possibilities for disaster so,
great, that it may dwarf into insgnifcance all
other crop enemies. This is that comparatively
new crop enemy, the European corn borer.
The corn borer is white grub, which, when
matured, is about the size and shape of the COM
mon garden cutworm, and it is proving destruc-
tive to the crop, wherever it gets established,
that it is practically impossible to grow corn in
that region. - e.
In Ontario, which was one of the great
growing areas of the North American continent in
1920, the borer has practically destroyed the
corn industry, and it has swept across the Great
Lakes through the medium of the corn-borer moth
like great storm and is now thoroughly established
in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan
Ohio, Indiana and has been found in Illinois.
A slight infestation of the corn borer found
in Ontario in 1920. It is believed to have origin
ated from shipment of broom corn from south
eastern Europe to Canadian factory. In the sue
ceeding six years it has so thoroughly destroyed
the corn industry of Ontario that thousands Of
Canadian farmers have discontinued all attempts
to grow corn in the infested area and have turned
to other crops.
! The corn borer is the larva or caterpillar of a
moth. This moth measures slightly over an inch
between the wings, and it is the moth which car
res the corn borer from field to field, spreading
the destruction in widening circle. The
corn borer is just now reaching toward the heart
of the great American corn belt, and If its ravages
cannot be halted it promises to work a tremendous
change in the agriculture of the nation.
Congress, at the session recently ended, appro-
priated $lO,0OO,O0O to fight the borer, and
while the officials of the United States department
of agriculture are hopeful that it may be brought
under control before it has any disastrous effect
on the American belt, they realize that they
are facing one of the greatest battles they have
ever been called upon to wage.
The moths deposit their eggs in small groups
generally on the under side of the corn leaf, each
moth depositing from 100 to over 1000 eggs Afte
about week the eggs hatch producing tiny larvae
that start feeding the leaf Soon the young
larvae bore their way through the surface of tn
leaves and prey upon the living tissues in all part:
of the plant They attack all parts of the plant ane
in about five weeks from birth they full sizet
, borers, about an inch in length.
They completely riddle the cornstak and som
of the badly infested fields look like they were
wrecked by cyclone.
. The corn borer should not be confused with tn
grub which is sometimes found in the corncob
/. of the northwest. This is an entirely differen
$ and comparatively harmless
Probably the first effect of the corn borer, shout
it become so thoroughly established in the American
corn belt as to materially affect the production o
corn would be to increase the demand for the grail
n and corn of the northwest.
:. It is . situation which the northwest farme
{ should watch with interest and menace which h
] should also watch for and cooperate with the de
t partment Of agriculture in guarding against.