204 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CUT- WORMS IN BEETS. 



About the middle of June, word came from one of tbe sugar beet raisers 

 of the state, that cut-worms were devastating the fields. A visit to the 

 region showed the report to be true. Cut-worms were being collected 

 by the gallon and destroyed with kerosene. Many were brought back 

 and placed in our cages, but as they have not, as yet, emerged, it is 

 not possible to name the species with certainty. The worms were large, 

 smoky in color, and nearly full-grown. Many had just pupated be- 

 neath the surface of the soil. 



In combating the cut-worms, poisoned baits were used successfully. 

 Bran mixed with paris-green at the rate of two pounds of the poison to 

 one hundred of bran and 

 moistened with cheap mo- 

 lasses and water was dis- 

 tributed about the edges of 

 the worst patches of in- 

 festation. The effect was 

 noticeable after twenty-four 

 hours, the places where the 

 ])oison had been used escap- 

 ing with a fraction of the in- 

 jury inflicted elsewhere. 



Salt has been recommend- 

 ed for cut-worms by various --, _^'- 

 people but, up to this time, 



the writer had had very little ^'°- ^- Cut-worm from Sugar-beets slightly enlarged 



faith in it, nevertheless, in 



this case, a heavy top dressing of salt had been applied to part of a 

 lield. using from 150 to 200 pounds per acre. The results were very 

 satisfactory, the line between the salted and the unsalted areas being 

 clearly defined. The salt seemed to kill the young worms during their 

 wanderings and to repel the older ones. Just what the effect of re- 

 peated sowings of salt on most of our soils would be, the writer can not 

 state, neither is it possible to know beforehand whether this measure 

 v.ould prove beneficial on our soils in general. We can merely state 

 that in this particular instance where the soil was black and full of 

 iiumus and decaying organic matter, the results were very satisfactory. 

 The writer does not recommend this treatment in general, but hopes to 

 try it out under varying conditions. 



During severe cut-worm invasions, a good proportion of the worms 

 are apt to be parasitized, most often by tachina-flies, whose tiny, porce- 

 lain-like eggs are to be seen plastered on the skins of the worms. These 

 Mies are not unlike house-dies in appearance, and their maggots dwell 

 inside the living bodies of the cut-worms, emerging as adults after the 

 worms have gone into the soil and pupated. Many such parasitic flies 

 were bred from the cut- worms in our cages. As these flies are the 

 natural enemies of the worms, anything which will protect them will 



