INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CORN. 



28j 



i«^??^ 







W^^>', 









sasife^^-,^'^ 



Cutworm, Feltia 



iaria. Adult Moth ; enlarged. 



a bacterial disease, which seems to attack them and kill them off very 

 ,/rapidly, especially when the larvae become unduly abundant. They are 

 also, like most cutworms, subject to the attacks of parasitic insects and 

 of birds. 



These clay-backed cutworms 

 prefer clover in preference to 

 bluegrass, and attack the corn 

 fields more especially when the 

 corn follows the clover field pre- 

 viously turned under ; or where 

 the insects are infesting neigh- 

 boring clover fields in undue 

 numbers, they frequently leave 



these fields in great abundance, Jju ''■~'^''^ ciay-Backed 

 sometimes in a body similar to the army-worm, and are then likely to 

 spread to the corn field and devour it, like unto the well-known army- 

 worm attack, eating the leaves of the corn plant instead of cutting the 

 plant down, as is the case with most cutworms. Their work in the corn 

 fields always consists of eating the leaves and the stems above ground. 

 The larvae are most abundant from the middle of April through May. 

 After May they enter the earth, so that by the middle of June practically 

 all of them have disappeared. They remain in the ground in a dormant 

 condition for upwards of six weeks before they transform to the pupae 

 stage, the moths appearing during September, and soon 

 depositing their eggs. Figure 38 represents a moth 

 enlarged. 



The best method of protecting a corn field from the 

 attack of these worms is to plow a furrow alorg the 

 side nearest the clover field, with vertical side toward 

 the corn, and then dig post holes every five or six feet 

 in this furrow. When the larvae leave the clover field 

 for the corn, not being able to cross the vertical furrow, 

 they will crawl along and fall into the post holes. One 

 can also kill great numbers by scattering poisoned 

 clover or bran about the parts of the corn field where the 

 larvae are entering. Fresh clover dipped into a strong 

 mixture of Paris green and water is as good a method 

 as one can employ. Where one wishes to plant corn in 

 a clover field the following year, he can prevent these 



Pig 39 The Clay- 

 adults from laying their eggs nearbv bv plowing the Backed" Cutworm, 

 _ " . ' ' Feltia gladiaria 



clover field under by the middle of September. Larv-a; enlarged. 



