FARMEES' INSTITUTES. 165 



acres on -wliicli I wintered about 100 hogs. In the spring of the year, when the 

 ground thawed out, I noticed the hogs seemed very busy running about, picking 

 up something in the stubble, and going down into the lot where they were, I 

 found they were picking up the worms. As a result, my corn crop was the only 

 cue which escaped damage in the vicinity. 



Mr. Powers. — I would like to ask whether worms which were in the ground 

 last year will be there next season? 



Mr. Beckwith. — My experience is this : The first season after they show 

 themselves they usually eat up some of your crop ; the next season, if they come 

 thickly, they generally eat it all up, and sometimes they appear the third year. 

 My adVice is, that if cut-worms get into your meadows to either give them over 

 to the hogs, or else plow them up and plant to corn. 



Prof. Cook. — It seems to me from what I have heard these gentlemen say 

 that they have mistaken the white grub for cut-worms. 



Mr. Beckwith. — I know something about the white grub, and I mean cut- 

 worms. I don't think salt will have any effect on the cut-worm, but a neighbor 

 of mine was troubled terribly with the white grub, and he mixed a quantity of 

 salt and plaster and went to putting it on his corn, and he got about two-thirds 

 of the work done when there came on a rain. Then he waited two or three 

 days and then went on and put salt on the rest. The plants on which the mix- 

 ture was administered before it rained were not affected, but where it remained 

 on the plants they were killed. The worm stopped eating the corn. 



Mr. Durkee. — I think there must be some mix-up about these worms. My 

 experience is that when you plow in the spring you don't see them crawling 

 around on the ground, and you can't see hardly any of them. But after a 

 time, along in May, when your corn is about ready to work, you will notice 

 some of the spears cut off, and then by digging down in the hill you will find 

 worms of all sizes. Now, is it true that these worms winter over? 



Prof. Cook. — I can state positively, with slight exceptions, that the eggs are 

 laid in the summer and hatch out and live over imtil the next year. Tiiey do 

 but little damage the first season after they are hatched out, but live on the 

 roots of grass and then come up in the spring. 



Mr. Beckwith. — You are mistaken about tliese cut-worms coming up in the 

 spring, or at least wliat I claim are cut-worms and see running about in tlie 

 spring. These small ones don't appear until May, are the progeny of the larger 

 ones, and I am confident are hatched out in tlie spring. 



Mr. Eice. — I wish to give my experience on a field of corn. The weather 

 was warm on Christmas, and I went on and plowed about an acre. The weather 

 then changed and the ground was frozen. The ground was then covered witli 

 snow until some time in March, when the snow went off, and I went on and 

 plowed another day. The weather again changed, the ground Avas frozen 

 again, and I did not plow any more until May, when I went on and finished my 

 plowing. The corn on the piece I plowed on Christmas day looked mucli 

 thriftier all through the season, and was much the best at harvest time. Where 

 I plowed in March it was better than where I plowed in May. 



Mr. Morton. — I would like to ask the gentleman whether his soil was sand or 

 clay? 



Mr. Rice. — Sandy soil with clay subsoil. 



