Evening star., 1940-08-10
Army Worm
Lawns
Pest Appearing for
The First Time
In 70 Years
united States Department of
Agriculture ReIeaSe.)

Agriculture ReledSe.)
For the first time in 26 years, the
army worm is invading lawns in
the District of Columbia. Entomol-
ogists have identified as army worms
a large number of caterpillars sent
in by people living around Logan
Circle and nearby on L and I streets
NV. Undoubtedly, the entomolo-
gists say, this insect pest is now
present on other premises, or soon
will be-
The army worm can get a good
start in life before it is discovered
Hatching as tiny caterpillar, it
feeds first near the ground, where it
is not easily seen. AS the young
worm grows its skin becomes too tight
for it. and soon splits. The army
worm has an almost unbelievable
capacity for food. Its skin splitting
and greedy eating go on for almost
three weeks. BY that time the ap-
pearance of the vegetation leads to
the discovery of the insect now
nearly naked caterpillar, about liz
inches long. The full-grown army
worm is greenish, with dark, some
times almost black, stripes along
its sides and down its back A fine
light-colored broken stripe runs
down the middle of the broad black
stripe. Between stripes the body
varies in color from greenish to
reddish brown. The head is green
ish brown, speckied with black.
The best way to prevent destruc-
ton of lawns by army worms, de-
partment entomologists say, is to
spray the infested grass with arsen-
ate of lead-one-half pound to IL
gallons of water. This is enough
to cover 1000 square feet. The for
mula may be increased or reduced
in proportion to the size of the
area to be sprayed. Late afternoon
is the best time to spray Army
worms feed mostly at night.
Spraying, of course, is effective
only when there is some grass left
to spray. If the worms have chewed
up all the grass, the only control
measure left is the use of poison bait.
The formula for this bait is: Wheat
bran, 20 pounds; paris green or
white arsenic, q pound; low-grade
molasses, "a quart; water, 2 gall
Ions. Mix thoroughly the dry
poison and the bran; then add the
diluted molasses and stir vigorously
till thoroughly mixed. This for
mula gives enough bait for one
acre. To distribute the bait, SOW
it thinly over the ground. The in
secticidal ingredients of this bait
are strong poisons. They should be
handled with care and kept out of
reach of children and animals. Dis
tributed thinly on the ground, the
mixed bait is harmless to warm
blooded animals.
The entomologists say that the
army worms now in the District
Matched from eggs laid by strong
flying parent moths, which flew in
from outlying farm fields, attracted
probably by the bright lights of the
city. The army worm is one of the
American farmers most costly in
sect pests, and at one time or an
other has invaded nearly every area
east of the Rockies. It does not
come everywhere, every year, but
appears all of a sudden, from time
to time, usually after a cold, back
ward spring. Serious damage to
growing grains and sometimes to
forage crops, can be prevented only
by extreme vigilance. 1t is easy
to destroy the worms while they
are still small, before they have
done much damage. Given a good
start, however, they devour every
blade of grain or grass in their reach
and then move on in large numbers
to new fields. This wholesale mi
grafton, from which the army worm
gets it's name, offers the farmer an
other chance to get rid of it by
spreading poison bait.