84 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
three weeks. The insect by day hides in tufts of grass. When the 
larve are migratory, or on the march for food, their march is stated to 
be at the rate of two to six rods per hour. These pests are said to 
multiply much faster in dry seasons when the swamps are dry, and 
when they are thus multiplied a wet season and overflowing swamps 
drive the insects from their lurking places in flocks, and they alight 
here and there over the country. There is generally but one brood in 
the more northern States in one season, but in the Sonth there are 
probably two, the last of which hybernates as pup. Several remedies 
have been proposed for their prevention and destruction, among which’ 
may be mentioned burning over the meadows in winter or very early 
in spring, or plowing late in the fall or early in spring, which will prob- 
ably destroy all theireggs. Judicious ditching will prevent their migra- 
tion from infested fields to those as yet uninjured, and these ditches 
should be dug, if possible, with almost perpendicular sides, or sloping 
inward from the top on the side to be protected, so that the caterpillars 
cannot readily crawl out. When the ditches are filled with the strug- 
gling caterpillars, if dry straw is scattered over them and fire applied 
it will kill them and clear the ditch for another lot. . 
The corn-worm of Maryland, or boll-worm of the South, Heliothis 
armigera, Hiib., (Agricultural Report, 1854,) has been found to be very 
injurious, not only to cotton and maize, but also to green peas, pump- 
kins, and, last year especially, to both the ripe and unripe fruit of the 
‘tomato, into which the caterpillar bores, rendering it totally unfit for 
use. A single caterpillar will sometimes entirely ruin a number of the 
fruit on one plant alone. Plates or wide-mouthed bottles of sirup or 
sweetened vinegar placed near the vines will attract the moths in the 
evening twilight, and in the morning many dead millers will be found 
stuck fast in the viscid substance. 
The larva of Phakellura nitidalis, Cramer, or cucumber moth, was 
taken several years ago in Florida boring holes in 
the fruit of the squash and feeding on the flesh in- 
side. Last year the larva of this insect was re- 
ported as very injurious to melons and cucumbers 
in Missouri, by eating holes in the fruit, from July 
=x to the end of Séptember, as many as four being 
ASS =sometimes found in one cucumber. The pupe are 
LAE formed in slight cocoons of white silk on leaves 
) un x near the ground, and the perfect moth appears in 
‘hemes . eight to ten days and probably hybernates as a 
perfect insect. This larva is said also by Guené 
to feed on potatces. To destroy this pest it has been recommended to 
examine the cucumbers and melons early in the season, and to destroy 
the first worms that appear and also all infested fruit. The upper 
wings of the moth are of a yellowish-brown color, with a semi-transpa- 
rent, irregular, yellow spot, while the hind wings are of the same semi- 
transparent yellow color, with a broad dark border. 
The clover-worm, or gold-fringe moth, Asopia costalis, Led., was found 
Fig. 48. so plentiful in a stack of clover ae hay, ip i 
ona: _ land, that the place literally swarmed with them, anc 
Peas PP the hay apneaeell to be totally ruined. The larva 
attacks and spoils clover for feeding purposes, both- 
\. in the stack and by interweaving and covering it 
INA with silken webs and black excrement that much 
~ resembles gunpowder. It has been stated that they 
feed on dried clover alone, but some experimented with fed sparingly 
— 
