REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 249 



with them. It seems impossible to destroy them. Can you give us a remedy'?" — W. 

 Watson-Allex. 



"Sussex, iST.B. — Cut-worms in the spring were a terrible pest, and several men who 

 make a habit of growing some hundreds of barrels of onions in this section were unable 

 to grow any at all." — W. W. Hubbard. 



" Fredericton, N.B. — We had a regular plague of cut-worms last spring. Our root 

 crops, and to some extent the corn and grain, were much damaged by them. T knew a 

 field that was re-seeded four times." — Percy C. Powys. 



" Petitcodiac, N.B. — The cut- worm is our worst enemy and is worst on sod, even if 

 ploughed fall and spring."^-B. Sinclair Smith. 



" Halifax, N.S., June 27. — How can I destroy cut-worms ? It is impossible to grow 

 anything in some lands in this neighbourhood, even in newly turned up soil. They are 

 destroying my ensilage corn." — R. Hunt. 



" Berwick, King's Co., N.S. — Cut-worms were very destructive in Nova Scotia this 

 summer; many fields of beans, turnips, cabbages and tomatoes were much injured. Our 

 cabbage and tomato crop was only saved by wrapping the stems with paper as the plants 

 were set." — S. E. Parker, Secretary, Fruit Growers' Ass., iV.>S'. 



"Nappan, Cumberland Co., N.S. — Cut-worms bothered us a good deal, but were 

 -extremely destructive in Yarmouth Co." — W. S. Blair. 



"Yarmouth, Yarmouth Co., N.S. — Cut- worms abounded thi'oughout the county, 

 destroying successive sowings of vegetable crops. They are estimated to have reduced 

 mangels by 15 per cent." — C. E. Brown. 



" Bear River, Digby Co., N.S. — Cut-worms did a great deal of harm in the spring to 

 all kinds of vegetables." — R. G. Turnbull. 



"Chester, Lunenburg Co., N.S. — Cut-worms destroyed gardens." — E. D. Lordly. 



In the Nova Scotia Crop Bulletin for November, 1896, cut-worm injuries are 

 recorded in the counties of Digby, Lunenburg, Pictou and Yarmouth. 



" Alberton, P.E.I. — We were much troubled with cut-worms in our gardens in late 

 May and June. Some people lost all their young vegetable plants, having been, I think, 

 too careful to pull out all the weeds early. The dry weather suited the worms. At 

 night in June and July you could hardly see out of the windows from the numbers of 

 the clumsy brownish gray moths of this pest." — Rev. A. E. Burke. 



Remedies. — The remedies for cut-worms are active or preventive. The chief active 

 remedies are, poisoning the caterpillars, which may be done effectively in two ways, or 

 hand-picking: 



1. Traps. — Large numbers may be destroyed by placing between the rows of an 

 infested crop, or at short distances apart on infested land, bundles of any succulent 

 weed or other vegetation which have been previously poisoned by dipping thern into a 

 strong mixture of Paris green (2 ounces to a pailful of water). The cut-worms eat the 

 poisoned plants then they bury themselves and die. In hot dry weather these bundles 

 should be placed out after sun-down, and a shingle may be laid on each to prevent 

 fading. 



2. Poisoned Bran. — Striking results have been obtained during the last two years 

 by putting along rows, or at the base of such plants as tomatoes and cabbages, a small 

 quantity of the following mixture which is mentioned in Prof. J. B. Smith's excellent 

 new Manual of Economic Entomology : — 



Thoroughly mix together in a dry state 50 pounds of bran and 1 pound of Paris 

 green; then add water a little sweetened with sugar until the whole is thoroughly wet 

 but not sloppy. Prof. Smith says : " This mixture is extremely attractive to cut-worms, 

 being preferred to plants in all the instances which have come under my notice. It 

 takes about ten pounds of this mixture to an acre of potatoes as ordinarily planted." 



The same mixture has been used dry by Mr. F. A. Sirrine of Geneva, N.Y., with, 

 he claims, even better results than the wet mixture, which is apt to get mouldy. 



3. Hand-picking, or digging up the cut-worms whenever a plant is seen to be cut 

 •off, should, of course, always be practised. 



Preventive remedies consist of : 



4. Clean culture, by which all vegetation is removed, upon which the young cater- 

 pillars could feed in the autumn or which would attract the moths to lay their eggs. 



