INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CORN. 3^5 



THE CORNWORM. 

 Heliothis armiger, Hubn. 



The corn worm is the larva or worm found in the ear of corn, and 

 is known not only to the person raising corn in the field or the home 

 garden, but is also known to every housewife who has ever attempted to 

 take the husks from sugar corn. This same insect is also known as the 

 "ear-worm," on account of its presence in the ear of corn, and is also 

 known as the "boll-worm" in. the south, on account of the fact that the 

 insect burrows in the cotton boll and feeds upon the developing seed. 



These insects -not only feed normally upon the corn plant, but they 

 attack and injure, besides the corn and cotton above referred to, the fruit 

 of the tomato, inside of which they will excavate chambers, while feeding 

 upon the pulp, and will also feed upon the tobacco plant, where tlity 

 injure especially the buds. They also feed upon the bean plant, in some 

 sections of the United States, being the principal injurious insect at- 

 tacking this plant. They likewise feed upon pumpkin, squash, peanuts, 

 cowpeas, peas, peppers, asparagus, jimson-weed, morning-glory, gera- 

 nium, sunflower, gladiolus, poppy and peach. In fact, the range of food 

 plants that this insect will attack is much larger than I have indicated. 



These insects do more injury to the corn at large than is generally 

 supposed, because we are accustomed to losing a certain per cent every 

 year from his insect. It is not, however, so much the actual amount 

 of kernels of corn that these insects eat, as it is the damage which 

 they do by causing the ears of corn attacked to decay by allowing the 

 various bacterial and fungus diseases to attack it. They greatly annoy 

 the housewife who, when she comes to take the husks from the ears of 

 sugar corn, almost invariably finds one or more of these "ugly" worms, the 

 presence of which is not only disgusting to her, but the upper third of 

 the ear is usualy injured to such an extent that she is compelled to break 

 it ofi^ and throw it away. In most localities of the United States sugar 

 corn is attacked by these insects to such an extent as to make it almost 

 impossible to purchase on the market corn without having the great bulk 

 of it infested with them. 



The great damage that these worms cause to corn comes when the 

 corn grower tries to cut up his corn and put it into the silo, preparatory 

 to making ensilage. When this corn is cut up it is very apt to contain 

 a great many of these worms, and they are introduced into the silo with 

 the corn. The various bacterial and yeast plants which develop in this 

 corn and sour it and convert it into ensilage, thus preserving it, are not. 

 able to convert or preserve the animal matter which has been there in- 



