INJURIOUS TO CUCUMBER, SQUASH AND MELON 127 



early sqiuislies are liarvested, or sooner if they crowd the main 

 crop, the vines should be pulled up and burned or composted 

 in order to kill the borers they contain. After the borer has 

 once entered the vine, there is nothing to be done but to cut it 

 out with a knife. If care is taken to make the cut lengthwise 

 of the stem and if the vine is immediately covered with earth 

 at the injured point, the wound soon heals and the vine con- 

 tinues its growth. Some growers make a practice of covering 

 the stem with earth two or three feet from the base in order 

 ta make the vine throw out a new root system, which will 

 sustain the plant in case the main stem is injured at the base. 

 In s :)me cases it would pay to keep a sharp lookout for the 

 moths in the evening when they are resting on the vines. They 

 are easily seen and are not difficult to capture. For every 

 female killed l)efore she has deposited her eggs, there will be 

 from one to two hundred less eggs laid on the vines. 



References 



N. J. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 94, pp. 27-40. 1893. 

 U. S. Div. Ent. Bull. 19, pp. 34-40. 1899. 

 U. S. Farm. Bull. 0(38. 1915. 



The Pickle Worm 



Diaphania nitidalis Stoll 



The pickle worm and its near relative the melon worm are a 

 serious drawback to the profitable growing of cantaloupes, 

 squashes and cucumbers throughout the southern states. In 

 some years the former appears in destructive numbers as far 

 north as New York and Michigan and the moths have been 

 taken in Canada. The insect ranges southward through the 

 West Indies into South America. As far as known, its food 

 plants are all members of the gourd family : cantaloupe, cucum- 



