6 



middle of Maj'^ to the middle of July. Both larvae and moths are 

 nocturnal insects, the larvae feeding and the moths iiying onl}' at night. 

 Planters report that cutworms are more abundant in seasons following 

 a fall in which there have been abundant rains, making grass and weeds 

 plentiful, and that these insects are more injurious at the sides of the 

 fields, where, of course, vegetation was probabl}^ abundant the fall 

 previous. 



Remedies. — From the habits above outlined it may be seen that 

 much can be done to control these pests by thorough cultivation of 

 the land during late fall, winter, and early spring. When the land is 

 thoroughly plowed many of the cutworms are exposed to abnormal 

 weather and succumb, many are crushed, and still others are eaten by 

 birds or insects. Then, too, when the land is fallow in early spring 

 there is nothing upon which the cutworms can feed and these starve 

 before the cotton is planted. If found abundant in spring, however, 

 they may be best combated by the use of poisoned traps. The mash 

 described on page 10 for grasshoppers will be found ver}^ satisfac- 

 tor}'^, but is rather expensive for large areas. In its place, grass, clo- 

 ver, or other rank vegetation poisoned with Paris green will be 

 found effective if scattered over the field in small bunches a few days 

 before the plants appear. Bunches of the grass may be dipped in 

 Paris green, 1 pound to a barrel of water, or a small area of gi-ass or 

 clover may be thoroughl}" sprayed and then cut and distributed from 

 a wagon. These traps will be most successful where the land has 

 been plowed some time before, for cutworms will often feed for sev- 

 eral days where there is much vegetation which has been but recently 

 turned under. 



PLANT-LICE. 



With the formation of the first true leaves of the cotton, winged 

 plant- lice or aphids appear in large numbers on the under side of these 

 leaves and on the terminals, the "buds" of the plants often being 

 black with them. Almost all of these are of the same species as that 

 which infests melons later in the season, namely, Ajyhis gossypii Glov. 

 (tig. 2). It ma}^ not be out of place, therefore, to call attention to 

 the undesirability of planting cotton between rows of melons, as is 

 often done. The plant lice migrate to the cotton at this time from 

 various common weeds upon which they have passed the winter. 



Another plant-louse, Aphis sp., which is most commonly found 

 on bur clover, occurs on the cotton plant at the same time and can 

 not easil}^ be distinguished from the tirst-mentioned species. In cold 

 weather these plant lice often cause considerable injury to the cotton 

 plants and greatly retard their development, since the}' multipl}^ verv 

 rapidly and feed mostly on the growing terminals. If there be a few 



