WIREWORMS 
WARREN WILLIAMSON. 
During the past season, many reports have been received of 
injury by wireworms to seed corn after planting and to young 
corn plants as well as some damage to wheat, barley, and potatoes. 
Among the localities suffering injury to corn were Blooming 
Prairie, Fairmont, Fulda, Litchfield, Montevideo, Owatonna, Rush- 
more, Sherburn, Tracy and Verdi. Damage to potatoes occurred at 
Chatfield and Faribault and to wheat and barley at Owatonna. 
The amount of injury to corn in fields where the infestation was 
severe, as estimated by the owners, varied from one-fourth to one- 
half of the crop. In one report of injury to potatoes, the owner 
estimated the loss at half the crop. 
Corn is injured in several ways. The wireworms may burrow 
into the planted kernel, often devouring it completely. Other 
points of attack are the roots of the young plant which are eaten 
so that it may be dwarfed or even killed. The underground por-, 
tion of the stalk is frequently tunneled so that the plant dies. The 
effect in a badly infested field is seen in a large number of missing 
hills and dwarfed, unhealthy-looking plants. Wireworms are most 
numerous in corn on ground that has been in grass for several 
years, and are more likely to cause the worst injury the second 
year after breaking up from sod. Usually, but not always, it is 
in the lower parts of the field that the corn suffers most. Injury 
to potatoes is done by the wireworms tunneling into the tubers or 
gnawing the skin. It is said that they will occasionally bore into 
the stalk. We have had reports of a continuation of the work in 
the tubers after storage. Wheat and other small grains are killed 
by the destruction of the roots. While the above-mentioned crops 
are the only ones reported this year as suffering injury in Minne- 
sota, it is known that wireworms will attack other plants such as 
turnips, beets, onions, lettuce, strawberries, and numerous garden 
flowers. Being originally natives of wild prairie sod, they find a 
suitable habitat in grass lands where they feed upon the roots of 
grass, but rarely in sufficient numbers to do noticeable injury. 
When deprived of such food, as occurs in a cultivated field, they 
