THE BOLLWORM OR CORN EARWORMJ 



By F. C. BisHoi'p, Entomologist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Charactor of injury 4 



Habits of Oic insect and how it develops 5 



Seasonal history and relation of abundance to crop growth 7 



Control measures 8 



COTTON BOLLWORM, corn earworm, tomato fruitworm, and 

 false budworm of tobacco are common names applied to one 

 and the same insect when it is found attacking these various crops. 

 In fact the insect is a very general feeder, attacking many wild plants 

 as well as garden vegetables, alfalfa, cowpeas, and the crops indicated 

 above. 



The boUworm, or corn earworm as it is most widely known, occurs 

 as a pest in practically all parts of the United States. The com 

 crop is widely affected, and the loss to this crop, including sweet 

 com, exceeds the damage to any other single crop. Tliis was esti- 

 mated in 1905 to be about $18,000,000 annually, and in the absence 

 of later statistics it is safe to assume that the annual losses at 

 the present time greatly exceed this amount. The loss to cotton 

 raisers on account of its depredations was placed at $8,500,000 each 

 year. This injury to cotton is most severe in parts of Texas, Okla- 

 homa, and Arkansas. There is also considerable injury some seasons 

 in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. (See fig. 1.) The total 

 annual tax of this insect on the farmer can be conservati\^ly placed 

 at nearly $30,000,000. Despite these startling figures the fact that 

 the insect has been present as a pest in this country for many years 

 has caused most farmers to become tolerant of it. Under the present 

 stress of world need it becomes doubly necessary to put forth every 

 effort to reduce these losses to a minimum. 



CHARACTER OF INJURY. 



The character of attack on all the principal crops affected is simi- 

 lar. The caterpillars usually bore into and feed within the plant 



• Known scientiflcally as HeUothis ohsukta Fab. ; order Lepidoptera, family Noctuidae. 

 70904°— 22 3 



