Climbing Cutworms. 679 



baits, and tliey will have been their own sextons and have attended 

 to their own burial in many cases. Such poisoned baits seem not 

 to have been used against climbing cutworms, but a single trial on 

 a small scale here at the insectary leads us to believe that they 

 would prove quite effective in connection with cotton bands. Place 

 two or three of the poisoned bunches close to the base of the tree or 

 vine at nightfall. 



One correspondent wrote us that when he uses the cotton bands 

 he often finds the cutworms feeding on the little twigs that have 

 been cut from the trees. Why not poison these twigs ? A Michi- 

 gan fruit-grower dips small freshly-cut branches into a strong 

 arsenical solution and sticks them into the ground around the trees 

 close to the trunk. He says the cutworms take to the limbs in 

 preference to the taller trees and are killed by the poison. 



In 1894 we found several persons near Forest Lawn who had 

 used with considerable success a poison bait made by mixing enough 

 Paris green with rye fioiir to give it a distinct greenish tinge. This 

 was scattered around the base of the infested plants ; it was greedily 

 eaten by the worms and with deadly effect. We tried it on a small 

 scale and found it quite effective. Of course, all poultry and other 

 domestic animals must be kept away from the places where this bait 

 and the one to be discussed next are being used. 



While experimenting on grasshoppers with the poisoned bran 

 mash, which has been used with some success against these pests in 

 the West, it occurred to us to try it on the climbing cutworms.* A 

 few preliminary experiments in 1894 convinced us that it would 

 prove a very effective bate for the cutworms, as they ate it greedily 

 when placed about peach trees, and it killed very quickly. We 

 applied it at nightfall, and the next morning found several dead 

 and dying cutworms, with the contents of their alimentary canal so 

 green that it showed plainly through their skin ; a chemical exami- 

 nation of the green portion showed very strong indications of 



*Tt is made by thoroughly mixing siifiSeient Paris green or London purple with 

 dry wheat bran to give it a distinct greenish or purplish tinge (a pound to 25 

 pounds of bran, or two or three pounds of the clieaper white arsenic may he 

 used), then add enough water to form a mash sufficiently soft to be dipped out 

 with spoon without dripping. Sugar, molasses or glycerine may be added to the 

 water to make the mash more sticky or to prevent its drying out, so quickly, but 

 Mr. Davis found that the sweeting did not add to the attractiveness of the mix- 

 ture for the cutworm?. 



