II Jan., 1909.] Naphthaline Treatment for Cut Worms 33 



When small infested patches are found, a trench should be dug round 

 the patch over which straw or long chaff sprinkled with kerosene has been 

 spread. After firing and burning off, the soil can be thrown over the 

 quarantined area, covering and burning any parts that have escaped 

 destruction. It is wise not to remove the infested plants for burning as 

 pieces left on the field or dropped in fresh places re-establish themselves and 

 spread the evil. To attempt to tear out the Dodder with a rake is even more 

 foolish. Spraying with copper sulphate o,r iron sulphate solutions have 

 been recommended, but a badly infested crop cannot be saved in this or 

 any other way. It is better to lose completely a small area of the crop by 

 burning than to risk a much more serious infestation next year. Care 

 should also be taken to use only clean seed. Indeed, the sale of seed con- 

 taining Dodder should be a severely punishable offence. 



Infested Clover or Lucerne should not be fed to stock, as seeds may 

 be voided unaffected in the manure, and reinfect new ground. Above ah, 

 good cultivation in the widest sense should prevail, and all fields, hedges 

 and ditches should be kept clean and free from weeds, especially legu- 

 minous ones. Dodder also grows on St. John's Wort and other weeds, but 

 usually not on Compositae. Several native species of CassytJia (Lauracese) 

 are often mistaken for Dodder, which they closely resemble in habit and 

 external appearance. They mainly grow on native plants, especially near 

 the sea, but are not agricultural pests like the true Dodders, though, like 

 them, they have no assimilating lea\es and obtain food from the host 

 plants on which they grow by means of their attaching suckers. Cassyiha 

 is a coarser pLant, the fruits larger, less fleshy, not so densely clustered, 

 and each one enclosed by a closely investing calyx barely open at the 

 top. 



NAPHTHALINE TREATMENT FOR CUT WORMS. 



In view of the damage recently done to young vine plantations in several 

 vineyards in the north-east by agrotis caterpillars, commonly known as cut 

 worms, a recent article by M. P. Hoc in the Pr ogres Agricole et Viticole 

 of Montpellier (France) should prove of interest to vinegrowers. 



M. Hoc deals with the damage caused bv another shoot eating insect, 

 Helops lanifes, and describes how young vines were saved from the ravages 

 of this grub by the use of naphthaline at the rate of i to | oz. per vine. 

 He also refers to the use of another insecticide known as vaporite, but it is 

 not obtainable in Victoria. 



Naphthaline should be well worth a trial against our cut worms. The 

 drug is obtainable in Melbourne at 4d. per lb. wholesale. The earth 

 around the young vine should be removed to a depth of a few inches, 

 thoroughly pulverized, and the coarsely powdered naphthaline well mixed 

 with it. This soil should be employed to reform the protecting mound 

 round the base of the vine, which will, owing to the poisonous vapour of the 

 drug, no longer serve as a shelter for the cut worms during the day time. 



Another method would be to apply it in holes a few inches deep on, 

 say, three sides of the vine. As soon as the drug is placed in the holes 

 they should be blocked up with soil. This was the method followed in the 

 case of " vaporite." 



It would be well to try a few experiments in order to make sure that 

 no damage is done to young shoots by the naphthaline. According to 

 M. Hoc, up to jt oz. per vine would appear to have had no injurious effect 

 on vegetation. — F.C. 



15164. B 



