1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 83 



far as I am aware, in connection with recommendations made for using 

 this material; that is, that the soil must be neither too wet nor too dry. 

 In either case the action will be unsatisfactory, and possibly this may ac- 

 count for some failures of which I have learned in an endeavor to use this 

 material for other purposes. We are constantly discovering new and 

 important factors that must be reckoned with if we want to obtain uniform 

 results in the use of any insecticide. Mr. Webster finally makes as his 

 most practical recommendation the suggestion that during the season of 

 gg-laying and the hatching of the young larvae the ground beneath the 

 vines be kept constantly stirred and turned up towards the rows, so that 

 roots and stem may be as deeply covered as possible by an unbroken 

 surface making it necessary for the larvae to dig down rather than crawl 

 through some crevice to reach the roots. Any method of cultivation that 

 induces the plant to send its roots down deeply is to be preferred to one 

 which keeps the roots near to the surface. This particular insect has been 

 known for a very long time, and not until the last year or two has it made 

 its appearance in destructive numbers. It is quite likely that in the course 

 of another short period it will disappear as abruptly as it became an 

 injurious pest. 



Cut-Worms. During the season of 1895 worms seem to have been un- 

 usually abundant in many localities, and Bulletins on the subject were 

 issued in New Jersey, Kentucky and New York. These same insects 

 have been referred to more or less incidentally in other Station publica- 

 tions, and in the discussions before the various society meetings ; and 

 practically much the same species have proved troublesome in all the 

 States. It is a matter of interest that difference in surroundings influence 

 the habits of the insects, and that almost all species will climb trees and 

 eat buds when they fail in obtaining a sufficient supply of low vegetation. 

 In young orchards " climbing cut- worms" can do an enormous amount 

 of irreparable damage, while even on larger trees they may affect the 

 crop of fruit. In the New York Bulletin these "climbing cut-worms" of 

 the orchard are especially treated, and considerable reference is made to 

 experiences in Michigan, in dealing with similar insects. It seems toler- 

 ably easy to prevent the insects from climbing the trunks by means of a 

 band of cotton batting several inches wide, tied at the bottom and then 

 turned down so as to form a sort of cone. This appears to be absolutely 

 [insurmountable for the cut-worms, and the trees can be protected from 

 them without much trouble or expense; but they seem also inclined to 

 chew the bark of the young trees at the surface and girdle them, causing 

 even more damage than if they had been allowed to ascend and feast 

 upon the buds. In such cases it seems to me that the " Raupenleim," or 

 " Dendrolene," would serve a very much better purpose. A band of 

 this material extending from the surface, or even a little below it, for 

 eight, ten, or twelve inches up to the trunk, would be unsurmountabie by 

 cut-worms, unless they were numerous enough to cover the material so 

 completely as to form a bridge for those coming after. In such a case a 



