103 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



of most of the counties in Kansas. The damage done was not by any 

 means confined to the grain actually eaten by the worm; but " the 

 ends of the ears of" corn, when partially devoured and left by this 

 worm, afforded a secure retreat for hundreds of small insects, which, 

 under cover of the husk, finished the work of destruction commenced 

 by the worm eating holes in the grain or loosening them from the 

 cob. A species of greenish-brown mould or fungus grew likewise in 

 such situations, it appearing that the dampness from the exuded sap 

 favored such a growth. Thus decay and destruction rapidly pro- 

 gressed, hidden by the husk from the eye of the unsuspecting farmer." 

 It appears also that many horses in Kansas subsequently died from 

 disease, occasioned by haying this half-rotten wormy corn fed out to 

 them. 



Remedies. — It is the general experience that this worm does more 

 injury to very early and very late corn than to that which ripens in- 

 termediately, for though the broods connect by late individuals of the 

 first and early individuals of the second, there is nevertheless a pe- 

 riod about the time the bulk of our corn is ripening, when the worms 

 are quite scarce. I have never yet observed their work on the green 

 tassel, as it has been observed in New Jersey, and do not believe 

 that they do so work with us. Consequently it would avail nothing 

 as a preventive measure, to break off and destroy the tassel, and the 

 only remedy when they infest corn is to kill them by hand. By 

 going over a field when the ears are in silk, the presence of the 

 worms can be detected by the silk being prematurely dry or by its 

 being partially eaten. 



In the South various plans have been adopted to head off the 

 Boll-worm, but I believe none have proved very successful. The 

 following experiment with vinegar and molasses, was made by B. A. 

 Sorsby, of Columbus, Ga., as quoted by Mr. Glover: 



" We procured eighteen common-sized dinner plates, into each 

 of which we put half a gill of vinegar and molasses, previously pre- 

 pared in the proportion of four parts of the former to one of the lat- 

 ter. These plates were set on small stakes or poles driven into the 

 ground into the cotton field, one to about each three acres, and 

 reaching a little above the cotton plant, with a six-inch square board 

 talked on the top to receive the plate. These arrangements were 

 made in the evening, soon after the flies had made their appearance ; 

 the next morning we found eighteen to thirty-five moths to each 

 plate. The experiment was continued for five or six days, distribu- 

 ting the plates over the entire field; each day's success increasing 

 until the numbers were reduced to two or three moths to each plate, 

 when it was abandoned as being no longer worthy of* the trouble. 

 The crop that year was but very little injured by the Boll-worm. The 

 fl'es were caught in their eagerness to feed upon the mixture by 

 alighting into it and being unable to escape. They were probably 

 attr icled by the odor of the preparation, the vinegar probably being 



