FARMERS' I^q'STITUTES. 283 



DISCUSSION AT DECATUR. 



E. Durkee. — At what time do the cut-worms, which work in the corn, lay 

 their eggs? 



Prof. Cook. — I can hardly answer that question, as there are four or five spe- 

 cies which attack the corn, and they lay their eggs at different times. Most of 

 the eggs, however, are laid in July and August. They hatch soon after being 

 laid, and become half an inch in length before autumn. It is probable that 

 the larvfe feed almost entirely upon the roots of the grass. 



Mr. Durkee. — Do I understand that the eggs are laid in any place except 

 where there is grass? 



Prof. Cook. — I think not. Insects know Avhere to put their eggs so their 

 larvffi can get food, 



E. Durkee. — What I call the cut-worm is a small black worm that works in 

 the corn. My idea is that they hatch out in the spring. I don't know whether 

 I am correct or not. 



Prof. Cook. — You are not correct. 



Mr. Durkee. — Why I think they hatch in the spring is because I see three or 

 four different sizes ; some of them little bits of fellows. A year ago I planted a 

 piece to corn where the previous year there was not a Aveed nor a spear of grass, 

 but they got the start of me for all that, and ate up about nine-tenths of my 

 corn. There Avere twelve acres in the field. 



Prof. Cook. — I Avill say that these larvae are capable of craAvling quite a dis- 

 tance. AV'as there a meadoAv near? 



Mr. Durkee. — There Avas a meadoAV adjoining. 



Prof. Cook. — These larvas must haA'e liAcd on the roots of the meadoAV during 

 the fall, and then crawled onto the field. I have watched them in a patch at 

 the college, and they Avould crawl nearly a rod in a minute. 



Mr. Durkee. — I still think they hatch in the spring for I find these little bits 

 of felloAvs in my corn. 



Prof. Cook. — I think you must have the Avhite grub and the cut-AVorm con- 

 founded. 



J. R. Hendryx, — I have never had any trouble from the cut-AVorm when I 

 ploAved in the fall. 



J. J. Woodman. — As the Professor was going through with his lecture, I 

 thought I saw a remedy for the cut-worm, Avhich is the pest of Van Buren 

 county. I have resorted to fall ploAving sometimes with benefit, — in other cases 

 have received no benefit. The idea struck me to-night that if the theory is cor- 

 rect that the egg of the cut-AVorm is laid upon the grass and hatches in the fall, 

 a sure remedy AVOuld be to ploAT early, and destroy the grass before there is any 

 chance for the egg to be deposited. But if the theory is correct that the worms 

 do migrate, then my idea of early ploAving as a remedy goes for naught. 



Henry Chamberlain. — I wish to say that my exiDcrience would uphold the 

 theory of Prof. Cook. As a general thing I have not been a great sufferer from 

 th'e raA-ages of the cut-Avorm, but in the season of 1874 their ravages were quite 

 extensive in my vicinity. My soil is a clay loam. One field Avas a very rich, 

 mucky soil. One half of this field (the higher j)ortion) was ploughed early in 

 the fall, and the other half Avas plowed in the spring. The field had been used 

 for a meadoAV. The portion ploAved in the spring Avas utterly destroyed by the 

 cut-AVorms, Avliile the other portion Avas not seriously damaged. I had another 

 field lying just across the road. One half of the field had been in corn the pre- 



