m 



140 FRUIT INSECTS 



trees and grapevines are often stripped of buds and killed in a 

 single night, and the cutworms sometimes gnaw off the tender 



bark of the twigs, 

 or may even girdle 

 the trunk if pre- 

 vented from ascend- 

 ing by some barrier. 

 Towards morning 

 they drop to the 

 ground, burrow in 

 an inch or more, and 

 remain during the 



Fig. 152. — Moth oi Porofiagrotis oetusta (x IV- ^ tt ^^ • n 



day. Usually m 2 

 or 3 weeks, or by the time the trees are in leaf and blossom, 

 the cutworms become full-grown, cease feeding and soon trans- 

 form to the parent moths (Fig. 152). 



Remedial measures. 



Orchards or vineyards on the heavier soils are rarely troubled 

 by climbing cutworms. On the light, sandy soils usually pre- 

 ferred by these pests, keep the ground entirely . free from all 

 grass and weeds for 2 or 3 months after July 15, so as to starve 

 out the recently hatched caterpillars. If some cover crop, 

 like rye, oats, clover,* rape or cow-peas, could be sown late in 

 fall between the rows of trees, vines or bushes, and plowed under 

 after these. fruits were in leaf, it would furnish the cutworms 

 something besides fruit-buds to eat and thus prevent much of 

 their destructive work. 



A collar of cotton batting or wool properly put on the trunks 

 of trees or grapevines makes almost a perfect and a very cheap 

 barrier to the ascent of the cutworms. Unroll the batting into 

 thin sheets and cut into strips 4 or 5 inches wide. Wrap these 

 around the trunks, letting the ends overlap an inch or more, 

 then tie with common white twine at the bottom and carefully 

 roll the top of the band down over the bottom edge, thus form- 



