754 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Corn earworm, T. J. IIeadlek {Kansas .S'ia. Circ. 7, pp. 6). — It is estimated 

 tlial (Inriiifi tlie years 10()S-9, not loss tlian 3.5 per cent of tlie corn Kansas 

 sliould have produced went to feed corn earwornis. In the fields about Man- 

 hattan from 00 to 1(X) per cent of the ears were infested in 1908 and 1909, 

 and throughout the State about 50 per cent. Examination of nearly a thou- 

 sand injured ears showed about 10 per cent of the tip kernels destroyed, equiv- 

 alent to about 7.5 per cent of the coni on the ears. 



Additional injury was caused throusli the entrance of molds and bacteria, 

 for the growtli of wliicli the excrement furnislies a medium. Unpublished 

 feeding tests at the station also indicate that certain species of fungi found 

 in the excrement from worms have produced in horses well marlied cases of 

 blind staggers. A brief account of the life history and liabits of the pest 

 follows. 



The investigations show that 40 per cent of the injury by these worms can be 

 avoided. Exjieriments of the last 2 years indicate that practically none of the 

 pup;e winter in the soil of weed patches and alfalfa fields about Manhattan, 

 and as garden patches are small, it ajtpears that a great proportion of the pupre 

 winter in the soil of infested corn fields. Plowing such fields 5 or 6 in. deep in 

 late fall and early winter tlestroyed practically 100 per cent of the overwinter- 

 ing pup*. Since the moth is a strong flier, it is important that growers cooper- 

 ate in dealing with the pest. Otlier things being equal, late planted corn suf- 

 fered more severely than that which was planted early, this difference being 

 due to the fact that late planted corn was in its most attractive stage (in 

 silk) during the time the third and largest brood of moths was on the wing, 

 while the early planted corn had finished silking by the time the mass of this 

 brood was ready to emerge. Corn planted May 1 experienced about 40 per 

 cent less damage than corn planted June 15 or later, 33 to 35 per cent less 

 than that planted June 1, and 16 to 20 per cent less than that itlanted May 15. 

 While the variety of corn which requires the less time to mature showed the 

 smallest amount of injury, the difference was so small as hardly to be worth 

 considering. 



The codling moth, and how to control it by spraying, E. D. Sanderson 

 (Xew Hampshire Sta. Bui. I'/S, pp. 61-106, figs. 23). — The information gained 

 in investigations previously noted (E. S. II., 21, p. 758) is here brought together 

 in popular form. The life history and habits of the moth are first considered, 

 followed by an account of spraying experiments conducted during 1906, 1907, 

 and 1908. The care of the orchard in dealing with the pest is also discussed 

 and directions given for spraying. 



During 1909, cooperative demonstration experiments in spraying were made 

 at several places, from 10 to 20 trees being sprayed on each farm by the 

 station representative. The owner's reports of the results obtained in the 

 orchards thus sprayed are quoted from. 



A postal card census of the extent of spraying in 1909. taken through select- 

 men and the grange, showed that out of 111 towns reporting, there were 71 in 

 which one or more persons sprayed, while in 40 no spraying was done. The 

 experience of those who sprayed is presented. 



The bulletin closes with accounts by a number of growers of the results 

 obtained from spraying. 



Notes on the parasites of the Saturniidae, W, F. Fiske and W. R. Thomp- 

 son (Jour. Econ. Ent., 2 (1909), A'o. 6, pp. ^50-Ji60). — During the course of 

 work with parasites of the gipsy and brown-tail moths in 190.S-9, collections 

 were made in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire of the 

 cocoons of 8amia cecrojna, a total of 370 being collected. The parasitism is 



