The Bulletin. 45 



issue in the fall. They lay their eggs, the larvae hatch and become 

 partially grown before frost, when they burrow into the ground and 

 pass the winter evidently more or less unaffected by heat and cold. 

 By spring they are ready to devour anything green that happens to 

 be in their way. Cutworms are especially troublesome in land that 

 has lain in sod or grown up with weeds. They are often also very 

 troublesome after clover. 



Food Plants. — Cutworms are perhaps the most general feeders 

 among insects. They seem to eat anything that is green, whether it 

 be stems, leaves, or fruit. They are perhaps destructive to such 

 plants as are transplanted early in the spring. 



Control. 



Preventives. — As the moths lay their eggs either in sod land 

 or land that is growing some new crop, it naturally follows that 

 tobacco should not be planted after crops of this kind. If the land 

 that is to be planted in tobacco is plowed early in the fall before 

 the adult moths of the last generation have laid their eggs, vegeta- 

 tion will be kept down and the moths will seek some other field 

 to lay their eggs. Of course, it would be necessary in following this 

 method of preventing Cutworms to see that all vegetation is com- 

 pletely turned under. 



Remedies. — In fields that are suspected of having Cutworms, all 

 weeds and trash should be plowed under two or three weeks in ad- 

 vance of transplanting time and the field cleared of Cutworms by 

 using poisoned bait. There are two kinds of poisoned bait that may 

 be used in this way. One may be known as the green clover bait 

 and the other as the bran bait. In preparing the clover bait it is 

 only necessary to spray a small patch of clover with Paris green 

 at the rate of 1 ounce to 6 gallons of water. The clover is then cut 

 and little balls about the size of the fist are scattered through the 

 field. It is usually best to place the bait in rows about six feet apart, 

 placing the balls every four or five feet. By placing the balls in 

 this way the Cutworms will have little trouble in finding them. Each 

 ball of bait should be covered with a shingle or piece of board, other- 

 wise it is apt to wilt too soon. The clover bait may also be made 

 by dipping little balls of clover in Paris green at the strength men- 

 tioned above instead of spraying it upon the clover. 



Another bait which is frequently recommended to be used against 

 Cutworms is one made of bran, as follows: One pound of sugar i^ 

 dissolved in about 5 gallons of water and to this is added about 5 

 pounds of bran (shipstuff) or enough to make a mixture which will 

 just squeeze between the fingers. To the bran mixture is then added 



