April, '16] BENSEL: VARIEGATED CUTWORM 305 



Control by Dry Paris Green 



The dry application of Paris green by means of a special arrangement 

 on the ordinary horse cultivator was also tested. This method appar- 

 ently gives a more uneven distribution of the Paris green but has the 

 advantage of giving an extra cultivation to the suffering beets which 

 undoubtedly stimulates their growth and thus increases the resistance 

 of the weakened plants. The dry application was made early in the 

 morning while the leaves were still damp in order to cause the poison 

 to adhere better to the foliage. The tops of the sprayed beets were 

 fed to cattle during the summer and no bad effects were reported. 



Ditching 



The writer also recommends that around the adjoining fields a 

 ditch about one and one-half feet deep should be plowed as the cut- 

 worms are known, under certain conditions, to acquire the marching 

 habit although this has never occurred so far in this locality. The 

 ditch should be constructed with steep sides so that the cutworms 

 cannot climb out and are obliged to travel along the bottom of the 

 ditch and gather in holes placed along the bottom about forty feet 

 apart. 



Trapping Moths by Lights 



Besides the above-mentioned remedies another preventive remedy 

 was tried which has been used on a large scale in Germany and Russia — ■ 

 the trapping of the adults or moths by means of light traps. In the 

 various infested districts eight large electric arc lamps of 3,000 candle 

 power each were installed, burning four kilowatt-hours a night of 

 nine hours at a cost of approximately thirty cents a night. In the 

 districts where no electric current was available a Milburn portable 

 500 C. P. acetylene gas light consuming about ten pounds calcium 

 carbide at five cents a pound, or fifty cents a night, was used. Under- 

 neath these lights and at a distance of about ten inches a shallow gal- 

 vanized iron pan four feet in diameter is set on a wood platform six 

 feet above the ground. This pan contains water covered with a light 

 coat of oil. The moths captured were counted every morning and a 

 total of 96,046 moths were captured by the Arnold Dump trap light. 

 All the electric light traps were placed upon the platforms of the sugar- 

 beet unloading dumps which are about twelve feet above the ground. 

 The 96,046 moths were caught during thirty-six nights at a cost of 

 $17.28 (144 kilowatt hours at twelve cents) or approximately at a cost 

 of twenty cents a thousand. The number of moths captured varies 

 greatly with the weather conditions at night. An essential condition 

 for success is that the night should be warm, quiet and dark. During 



