THE BOLLWORM or corn earworm is an important enemy 

 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 pupce. 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 calcium arse- 

 nate, powdered arsenate of lead, or Paris green should take 

 place when the corn ears in the main crop become hard; 

 that is, about July 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 pick- 

 ing. Tobacco buds may be treated by dropping a teaspoon- 

 ful of a mixture of arsenate of lead and corn meal into them. 



Corn used as a trap crop gives some protection to cotton 

 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. 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 



L. O. HOWARD, Chief 



Washington, D. C. Issued October, 1917; revised February, 1922 



