The European Corn Borer. £i 
interior of infested plants to a decaying, putrid mass. This rot may 
cause greater loss than is occasioned primarily by the work of the 
borers. 
CHARACTER OF INJURY TO PLANTS OTHER THAN CORN. 
The injury to plants other than corn is of the same general char- 
acter as that to corn, except that in some instances special parts of 
the plants appear to be preferred as food or shelter. 
The stems or stalks of celery, rhubarb, potato, hops, oats, barley, 
buckwheat, hemp, cotton, dahlia, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, aster, 
zinnia, cosmos, geranium, and others are entered and tunneled by 
the borers, and the larve are sometimes found in the fruits or 
flowers of certain plants, notably tomato, pepper, cotton, hemp, 
dahlia, crysanthemum, and gladiolus. 
The stem and leaves of beets, spinach, Swiss chard, and others 
are preferred by the borers when attacking these plants. 
In beans the Wands are usually found in the stalks, pods, or green 
beans. 
In addition to the actual loss caused by the work of the borers 
in these crops, there is also the liability that such products, when 
distributed through commerce, may contain the insect and thus 
serve as carriers of the pest to new localities. 
Injury to the weeds and wild grasses (Fig. 1) serving as hosts 
of the European corn borer is not of itself commercially important, 
but the presence of such weeds and grasses affords abundant oppor- 
tunity for the multiplication and spread of the pest throughout areas 
where corn is not grown. In cultivated fields the borers are some- 
times so numerous that they are compelled to feed upon these other 
plants in order to complete their growth. There is also a possibility 
that some of these wild plants, when used for packing material or as 
bedding, may contain the borers and thus become a medium for 
transporting the pests to new localities. 
EXTENT OF INJURY TO CORN. 
NEW ENGLAND. 
In this area the cultivated ground within a radius of about 
15 miles of Boston consists very largely of truck and market- 
garden farms, many of which have been reclaimed from tidal 
swamps. The soil in many cases is a dark, heavy one, abundantly 
supplied with humus and moisture. There are in addition some up- 
lands scattered throughout the area where truck crops and corn are 
‘grown, but. in no case is there any considerable area where field 
corn is grown on a large scale, as is commonly the case in the 
Corn Belt, or even throughout the general farming areas of the 
United States. Thousands of suburban kitchen gardens are also 
involved in this region. 
Because of the damp climate, the excellent growing conditions, and 
the lush character of the vegetation, this area affords exceptionally 
favorable conditions for the existence and rapid multiplication of 
the corn borer. Neglected fields, city lots, and uncultivated areas 
abound, very often thickly covered with large herbaceous plants and 
weeds, in which the corn borer is permitted to breed unmolested, and 
