40 Farmers’ Bulletin 1294. 
more than two days after cutting in summer before being burned. If 
it is allowed to remain longer the borers are likely to leave the in- 
fested stalks. 
METHODS ADAPTED TO GENERAL FARMING. 
Where farms are divided into wood lot, pasture, meadow, and 
small grains, and only a few acres are in corn, the European corn 
borer is comparatively easy to control, especially in districts where 
corn alone is infested. 
To accomplish this, all cornstalks should be cut close to the ground 
as early as the purpose for which they are grown will permit. If 
this is done with a cutter and binder, the cutter knife should be set 
as low as possible. If done by hand, a short-handled garden hoe 
with sharpened blade may be used effectively, and with this tool 
the stalks and stubble can be cut almost even with the surface of the 
ground. A corn knife with a blade having a right-angle turn at 
the end is also convenient for this purpose. 
In disposing of cornstalks, care should be taken to destroy them 
immediately after cutting, either by placing in the silo, shredding 
and feeding direct to live stock, plowing under, or burning. Good 
results can not be obtained if stalks are allowed to stand in the fields 
throughout the winter, because under some conditions many borers 
migrate to other places of hibernation from such stalks. These 
operations should be conducted as early in the fall as possible in 
order to be effective. 
The practice of dragging fields of standing stalks with a heavy 
pole or iron rail while the ground is frozen, and subsequently gath- 
ering and burning the broken stalks, is strongly recommended as 
most useful in the control of the corn borer. 
In the spring of the year (before May 1) a good general clean- 
ing up of all corn remnants around barns, ete., should be conducted 
and such remnants burned. 
In areas where the corn borer is seriously damaging fodder corn, 
it is recommended that alfalfa, red clover, vetch, barley, or similar 
forage crops be grown, as these crops are not likely to be infested 
by the corn borer. 
BURYING DEEPLY IN SOIL. 
Small quantities of infested material may be conveniently and 
effectively disposed of by burying deeply in the soil during the fall. 
When this method is followed, it is recommended that the material 
be covered by at least 18 inches of soil. 
BURYING WITHIN PILES OF FRESH HORSE MANURE. 
Burying or covering infested plant material in piles of heating 
horse manure leads to the quick destruction of any borers contained 
in material thus treated. Care should be taken that the material is 
completely covered with several inches of manure. This method 
may often be used to advantage on farms and market garden or 
florist establishments where large quantities of horse manure are 
available, but it is not recommended for use in manure or compost 
which is not in a heating condition. 
When corn fodder is used for bedding, or for feeding, the uneaten 
parts should be kept out of the manure, and burned or otherwise 
