204 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETABLES 



vents the maturing of the ears. The borers of the second gen- 

 eration (most of them) pass the winter as larvae. The 

 periods of this species- in a given locality are tolerably regular, 

 hence it follows that early corn is more frequently infested 

 than later plantings, and corn planted after the first of June 

 is less apt to be seriously infested. Fortunately severe cold 

 spells kill off the insect from time to time in the North, and 

 the writer has seen corn fields practically ruined and a year 

 or two later has been unable, after hours of search, to find more 

 than one or two individuals on the same farms. 



Remedies. — If planters would be more careful in methods 

 of cultivation this corn stalk-borer would have no chance to 

 propagate in the North. In regions infested by this insect 

 corn should not be planted until after the first of June. Strip- 

 ping or pulling corn for fodder, so prevalent in the South, 

 and leaving the bare stalk with ear attached, is a bad practice, 

 not alone on account of this, but other insects, and should 

 be discontinued. Treating of the species only as a sugar-corn 

 pest, it should be stated that the same remedies should be prac- 

 ticed on field corn, sugar-cane and sorghum to prevent the 

 insect spreading from one field to another. Butts of corn 

 should not be left in the field after harvest, as they afford safe 

 places for larval hibernation, but should be dragged off and 

 burned as promptly as ])Ossible. 



Rotation of crops, if practiced over considerable areas, 

 would greatly diminish the numbers of this pest, and if pursued 

 in connection with clean farming severe losses would be averted. 

 Observation has shown that the average damage to crops 

 planted upon land which was in corn the previous year reached 

 25 per cent, while the average to corn planted on sod land was 

 only 10 per cent, even where this land was close to former 

 corn land. 



The Smaller Corn Stalk-borer {Elasmopalpus lignosellus 

 Zell.). — This stalk-borer was first observed depredating on corn 



