4 



Farmers' Bulletin 872. 



tissue. The first damage to corn is caused by boring into the 

 bud and eating down into the tender leaves as they unfold. (See 

 fig. 2.) A little later this injury often seriously affects the tassels 

 before they have opened out, and when the silks appear eggs are 

 laid upon them and young corn earworms burrow down through 

 the silks and attack the small kernels, as shown in the illustration on 

 the title-page. The tips of the ears are injured first ; later, especially 

 in tender varieties such as sweet corn, the earworms sometimes eat 

 completely to the base of the ear and almost destroy it. In some 

 regions practically every ear of sweet corn is more or less damaged 

 and throughout the entire country from 70 to 98 per cent of the ears 

 of field corn are attacked. Following this injury molds frequently 

 gain access to the ears and damage them still further. This is es- 

 pecially true during wet seasons. Such conditions are often followed 

 by an abnormally large number of cases of death among stock from 



the so-called corn- 

 stalk disease which 

 seems to be caused by 

 certain molds which 

 develop on corn. 



In the case of cot- 

 ton the injury is 

 readily distinguished 

 from that caused by 

 the boll weevil, as 



Fig. 1. — Map showing approximately tlie area in which the ^]-^g squares and more 

 bollworm inflicts severe injury on cotton. ^ , ^ ^^ 



tender bolls are com- 

 pletely eaten out, particularly after the worms have gained con- 

 siderable size. Occasionally full-grown bolls are gnawed into by the 

 large caterpillars and from one to all of the locks of cotton damaged. 

 (See fig. 3.) Bolls which have become hard are seldom fed upon to 

 any extent. 



Injury to tomatoes consists principally of damage to the green or 

 partially ripened fruit, but the young bollworms sometimes also 

 bore into the growing tips of the plants and occasionally destroy the 

 flowers as well. 



In tobacco the injury consists of the penetration of the small leaves 

 in the growing tip, hence the common name of budworm. A related 

 caterpillar,^ however, attacks tobacco in a very similar manner. A 

 single caterpillar may render several leaves unfit for wrapper by 

 penetrating the bud. 



Known .scientifically as Chloriilea vire.scens Fab. 



