1900 ] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 



The remedies for cutworms which have given the best results 

 are the banding of freshly set out annual plants, either with rings 

 of paper or tin, so that this protection extends down about an inch 

 beneath the surface of the eoil and an inch and a half or two inches 

 above it. Faded leaves which hang down and touch the ground 

 must be cut off. This protection is particularly applicable for cab- 

 bages, tomatoes and tobacco. For clearing infested land either just 

 before planting or when a crop is found to be attacked, the now well 

 known mixture of bran and Paris green gives excellent results. 

 This mixture may be applied either wet or dry. In the latter method 

 the bran should be slightly dampened with water containing 2 or 3 

 ounces of sugar to the gallon of water. After mixing thoroughly so 

 that the whole mass may be slightly moist, but at the same time 

 feel dry to the touch, dust over it a sufficitrnt quantity of Paris green, 

 green arsenoid, or some other similar poison, to give the mixture a 

 Fig. 27. — Variegated slightly green colour. In the former recommendations it was advised 

 Cutworm : a, single to add the Paris green to the bran in a dry condition; but this is not 

 eggduster oiTfwig? ' satisfactory, because on account of the weight of this poison it sinks 

 at once to the bottom when stirred. The bran or meal mixture 

 should be sufficiently dry to run through the fingers easily. It should then be placed in 

 small heaps a few feet apart where the cutworms are thickest and will be greedily eaten 

 by these insects. This is merely a modification of Prof. Riley's trap remedy which has 

 been used successfully for many years. This consists of tying up in small bundles &ny 

 green succulent vegetation such as any luxurient weed which may be growing by road- 

 sides, and after dipping them in a strong mixture of Paris green and water, distribute 

 them over the land or along the rows of a crop. The greatest drawback to this method 

 of fighting cutworms is the fading of the plant used. This may be prevented to a certain 

 extent by placing a shingle on the top of each, which has the double advantage of 

 attracting the cutworms as a hiding place, and of preventing evaporation from the bundles. 

 It is seldom that plants attacked by cutworms can be treated successfully by spraying, 

 except in the case of climbing cutworms in orchards. 



Cabbage Worms — The cabbage crop during the past season has suffered from sev- 

 eral enemies. The root maggots caused great havoc in many places among caulifl.owers 

 and early cabbages. The Diamond-back Moth (Plutella c7-uci/erarum, Zall ) was abun- 

 dant and destructive in dry districts to cabbages, turnips and rape, but the worst enemy 

 of the cabbage crop this year was the White Cabbage Butterfly {Pieris rapoe, L.), the green 

 caterpillars of which were so numerous from Peterborough we&tw^ard almost to Hamilton 

 and also at Ottawa and other places, as to reduce seriously the crop of turnips which, 

 owing to the leaves being destroyed, could not " bulb " Cabbages in fields and gardens 

 were also seriously injured. There are always every year certain insects which are liable 

 to increase and do harm, but the Cabbage Butterfly is one which may be treated with 

 comparative ease. The caterpillars are particularly susceptible to the effects of 

 pyrethrum insect powder, and, if a mixture be made of one pound of this powder with 

 four pounds of cheap flour and the whole be kept for twenty-four hours in a tightly closed 

 jar or canister, and then dusted over the plants, it will kill all of the caterpillars upon 

 which it falls, without inju»y to the plants and without danger to those who consume 

 them. The proprietary mixture known as Slug Shot has also proved very deadly against 

 " cabbage worms," as these caterpillars are generally called, but this must only be used 

 early in the season while the plants are small, as it contains poison. This insect was 

 probably more abundant during the past season than it has ever been noticed before, but 

 toward the end of the summer it was destroyed in enormous numbers by an epidemic 

 bacterial disease. Caterpillars which were attacked, first assumed a pallid or bluish white 

 appearance and thtn gradually turned brown in blotches whioh enlarged until the whole 

 body was a putrid mass. This disease was at its height in the beginning of September 

 and continued to the end of the season. The spread of the White Cabbage Butterfly has 

 been very rapid. It is said to have been imported into America first at Quebec about 

 1858, from which point it has spread in every direction. Although it had reached the 

 Pacific coast in the United States some years ago, it is only during the past summer that 

 it has appeared as an enemy of the cabbage grower on the coast in British Columbia. 



