445 



damage was done. Besides cultivated plants many weeds were 

 destroyed. Continued warm and dry weather in spring and early 

 summer (as in May- June 1917) undoubtedly favours the development 

 of E. segetion, and the danger of injury on a large scale is increased by 

 prolonged dry weather in July and August. The dry weather also 

 retards the growth of the plants and reduces their powers of resistance. 

 The unusual severity of the damage was due to the young stages of 

 both larvae and their food-plants occurring at the same time. For 

 instance, white-tleshed swede turnips could not be planted before 

 July because of the drought, so that the young plants and the first 

 developmental stage of the cutworms were contemporaneous. Tables 

 are given showing the relation between weather and cutworm injury 

 from 1913 to 1917. Showers and even heavy rain do not seem to check 

 the insects in the warm seasons, but the injury decreases after prolonged 

 rainfall in cool weather in autumn. Heavy clay soils favour E. segetum, 

 though there are some records of injury to sugar-beet in light and 

 medium soils. Loose soil is favourable to infestation, but damp and 

 shady places are avoided by the cutworms. 



Preventive and remedial measures are dealt with at length. The 

 chief outbreak (middle and end of July) must be avoided by early 

 sowing, and rapid growth in such crops as sugar-beet, fodder-beet, 

 carrots and swedes must be encouraged, and potatoes must be isolated 

 from infested fields by trenches. Under similar circumstances winter 

 grain must be sown as late as possible. The preceding year's crop 

 does not per se influence attack, but when sowing oil-producing plants 

 and winter grain it is very necessary to ascertain if they are being sown 

 in ground previously infested. Fallow ground, especially when 

 manured, requires very careful scrutiny. As a general rule both 

 labour and money will be wasted if such ground is re-sown too early. 

 Heavy losses were incurred in Mecklenburg in 1917 from this cause. 

 Wheat sown at a late date — not before 15th September — is the best 

 crop for sowing on land where cruciferous plants have been destroyed 

 by cutworms. Winter rye, sown after 15th September, is also a good 

 crop for infested fields. Early and semi-early potatoes are particularly 

 attacked, while late varieties suffer little or not at all. Besides making 

 trenches in order to protect uninfested land, they may also be dug 

 to isolate foci of infestation in given fields. The cutworms trapped 

 in the trenches may be fed to poultry. Manuring infested ground 

 with kainit, potash, ammonium superphosphate, potassium chloride, 

 etc., proved useless. Hand-collection is not recommended, but may 

 be resorted to, when potatoes are being dug. Poultry will prevent 

 much damage on infested ground and such birds as rooks, pheasants, 

 gulls, storks, etc., should be encouraged. Bait-traps prepared with 

 molasses are useful during the flight-period of the moths, and spraying 

 the foliage with Paris green may be resorted to against the larvae. 

 It is a difficult matter to check this moth on account of its habits, and 

 further work on the subject is necessary. 



Ultee (A. J.). Verslag over het Jaar 1915. [Report of the Besoeki 

 Experiment Station for 1915,] — Meded. Besoekisch Proefstation, 

 Djember, no. 22, 1916, 20 pp. 

 A borer attacking Hevea in the Djember district, Java, appears to 



be the Longicorn, Dihammus fistukitor, not previously recorcled as a 



pest of this variety of rubber. 



