The Army-worm. 241 



out later on in the discussion of the enemies of the army-worm. 



Indications of thk Prksence of Army-worms. 



Unfortunately, even when army-worms occur in immense num- 

 bers, farmers rarely become aware of their presence until they are 

 about half-grown, when they have usually spread some distance 

 from where they hatched, and have often already done much 

 damage. I^ast year, one farmer noticed that a forty-acre field of 

 rye seemed to be ripening unusually early, but he did not discover 

 the cause until a few days later when an immense army of the 

 caterpillars began marching from this field into adjoining corn 

 and oat crops ; an examination of the rye showed that the worms 

 had eaten nearly every rye leaf in the whole field and had also 

 cut off about one- third of the heads. That the insect gets such a 

 start before it is discovered, is doubtless largely due to the fact 

 that it is not a ''standard" pest (that is, one which may be 

 expected in injurious numbers almost every year, like the Codlin 

 moth) and thus farmers, not expecting it, are not on the lookout 

 for it. As it is impossible to predict with any degree of certainty 

 when army-worms may be expected, this unfortunate condition of 

 affairs seems to have no practicable remedy. 



A whole army of the worms are often hatched in a few square 

 rods or kss of rank growing grass in a low, damp spot in a large 

 pasture or meadow. Such a small area is easily overlooked, 

 although the little caterpillars may have eaten enough of the 

 grass to enable one, on the lookout for them, to readily discover 

 their presence before they have spread far and have done much 

 damage. It would be an easy matter to check an army of 

 these very destructive worms in field crops if it could be discov- 

 ered before it had spread far from its comparatively small breed- 

 ing ground. 



What Army worms Kat, and thkir Capacity for Injury. 



Army-worms include in their menu a wide range of food-plants. 

 They seem to prefer the grasses and grains. Timothy, wheat, 

 oats, corn, rye, and barley, they seem to relish best ; and millet, 

 Hungarian grass, sorghum, or flax do not come amiss. They 

 have also been known to eat onions, peas, beans and other garden 



