'T'HE BOLLWORM or corn earworm is an important pest 

 J- of cotton, corn, tomatoes, and tobacco. It feeds also 

 on many other cultivated and wild plants. 



As the winter is passed in the pupa or resting stage, 

 4 to 6 inches below the surface of the soil, late fall or 

 winter plowing will cause the death of many pupae. This 

 is probably the most important of all control practices. 



Since the insect increases greatly in numbers late in the 

 season and hard bolls of cotton and ripening corn ears are 

 largely immune to attack, it is important that these crops 

 be matured as early as possible. 



The caterpillar, except when it first hatches from the 

 egg, feeds by boring into the fruit or stalk of the plants 

 attacked; hence poisoning must be done at the right time 

 to give best results. Poisoning of cotton with powdered 

 arsenate of lead or Paris green should take place when the 

 corn ears in the main crop become hard; that is, about 

 .luly 10 to August 20, according to latitude and season. 

 Tomatoes may be largely protected by applications of 

 the poison, begun as soon as injury to the plants appears 

 and repeated at weekly intervals until 10 days before 

 picking. Tobacco buds may be treated by dropping a 

 teaspoonful of a mixture of arsenate of lead and corn 

 meal into them. 



Corn used as a trap crop gives some protection to cot- 

 ton and tomatoes. For cotton the corn should be planted 

 so as to come into silk and tassel when the ears of the 

 early crop are hardening. To protect tomatoes the corn 

 should be planted at intervals so as to be kept in silk 

 through the greater portion of the fruiting period of the 

 tomatoes. 



