INSECT ENEMIES OF TOBACCO IN FLORIDA. 107 



allowed to feed for a single da,v. much injury is done, a small hole 

 in the leaf hud at this stage developing later into numerous large 

 holes in the mature leaf or leaves. As described and recommended by 

 Prof. A. L. Quaintance," and by Dr. L. O. Howard,'' it is the practice 

 to sift into the leaf bud Paris green, in corn meal as a diluent (1 table- 

 spoonful of Paris green to 1 peck of sifted corn meal), by the use of 

 perforated tomato cans or l)aking powder boxes, attached to handles. 

 The leaf buds must be kept constantly covered with this mixture, 

 two applications per week ordinarily being sufficient, but three 

 being occasionally necessary. "\Mien the mixture is applied at a 

 greater strength the buds are burnt and seriously injured. After the 

 plants reach the height of 2 feet it is necessary to open with one 

 iiand and with the other to place a pinch of the mixture in the bud. 

 A^Hiile corn meal is largely used as a diluent it is also a common prac- 

 tice to add lime (air-slaked) and sand, 2 quarts of each to 4 of corn 

 meal. The lime, however, seems t(5 be objectionable in that it pos- 

 .sesses the property of adhering to the tobacco after it is harvested. 

 Again, road dust is occasionally used as a diluent. Corn meal, how- 

 ever, is now used by the majority of the tobacco planters. The worms 

 seem to eat the meal and vrith it the Paris green. 



The annual cost in treating the budworm, for labor and supplies, 

 has been estimated by several planters as ranging from $12 to $15 

 per acre. 



AATien the plants are permitted to bud, for seed, the worms are 

 very destructive, as they bore into the green buds and seed pods and 

 destroy a very large percentage. Applications of Paris green assist 

 to some extent in preventing this injury. 



Cultural methods in connection with this pest do not seem to "have 

 been recommended, nor are they practiced by the tobacco planters. 

 As recommended for cotton, corn may be found of sufficient value as 

 a trap crop, when planted around tobacco fields, to warrant its use 

 in this manner. When clean culture between crops is followed, as 

 recommended in connection with the tobacco thrips, the budworm 

 will be in part destroved in the j^upal stage bv the plowing of the 

 fields. 



As the pods of the cowpeas are the favorite food of budworms, 

 when grown in the field between crops (as sometimes practiced), they 

 should be plowed under or harvested and the field plowed late in the 

 fall. In this way many of the pupa^ will be destroyed, for it is in 

 this stage that the winter is passed, from 2 to 7 inches below the sur- 

 face of the ground. 



"Bulletin No. 48, Fla. Agrl. Exp. Sta., pp. 184-187 (1898). 

 i Yearbook T'. S. Dept. of Agric. for 1898, pp. 132-1.34, and Farmers' Bulletin 

 120, pp. 14-15 (1900). 



