284 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTUKE. 



yious season, and had not been kept particularly clean. The other half was old 

 pasture. The corn stubble suffered but little, while the meadow was nearly 

 destroyed. I think I never suffered seriously with tlie cut-worm but one year 

 before, imd. that was in 1863. 



Now, in regard to the army worm, last season was as wet as was ever known 

 in our county. I don't mean that there was the greatest rain fall in inches, 

 but still we had damp, wet weather, and we had really a very wet season. The 

 previous season was a dry one. We did not suffer severely from the army-worm 

 in my immediate vicinity, although it made its appearance in great numbers in 

 different parts of the country, and in some localities did a great deal of damage. 

 The only point I desire to make in regard to this is that, so far as my observa- 

 tion extends, they did the most damage and were the most numerous away from 

 the marshes. In the southwestern part of the township, which is rather rolling 

 and not marshy, they did a great deal of damage, while in the northeastern por- 

 tion, where there are many marshes, they did but little damage. I am inclined 

 to think that the theory in regard to a dry season followed by a wet one being 

 favorable for their growth, is probably correct. I have a little recollection of the 

 work of the army-worm in 1855 or 1850. We have but very little occasion to 

 complain of the ravages of the white grub, though in some instances they have 

 been troublesome in old meadows. The remedy is summer fallowing and plenty 

 of pigs. 



Prof. Cook. — How about the robins and black birds in your iieighbDrhood ? 



Mr. Chamberlain. — The law in regard to the birds is not observed, for the 

 peoj^le feel that when they go to the trouble of raising fine cherry trees they 

 ought to have a small share of tlie fruit, and a large number of birds are killed. 

 There are a great many black birds in the swales and marshy portions of the 

 country. 



Prof. Cook. — I think the correct idea in regard to a dry and wet season being 

 favorable to the development of the army-worm is this : that the wet season is 

 unfavorable to the development of the parasites which destroy them. 



Dean Toof . — Two years ago I had some timothy meadow. A portion of it I 

 plowed in the fall, and on this part they were not troublesome. Aside from that 

 they did some damage. 



E. Osborn. — I plowed a piece of sod last spring, commencing about May 10. 

 It was a sandy soil, rather uneven on one side. On two sides it bordered on low 

 ground, and on one side there had been a fence. I planted May 20. After the 

 corn came up they commenced to eat on the higher portions of the field, and 

 they did not touch the corn where the fence had set, and along the edges of the 

 low ground, until they had eaten the rest. When they first commenced to work 

 I hired four or five hands and ihought I would dig them out. We worked in 

 the forenoon, but after dinner we found five or six in a hill where we had been 

 over in the morning. I replanted it and it all came up, and they worked badly 

 again. I replanted a portion of it June 23 and 24, and the balance I sewed to 

 Hungarian grass. They worked away until about July 10, vdien they all disap- 

 peared. In the spring, in March, if you remember, there was a rapid thaw 

 which took down the snow-banks and covered the ground with water. The 

 surface of this field was nearly covered, and there came on a sudden freeze. 

 Some boys crossed this field and saw these worms sticking in the ice. They 

 came and told me, and I went and found it to be true. The freezing had no 

 effect on them, and they afterward cut down the corn. 



Prof. Cook. — How about the birds in your section? 



