﻿OP THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 55 



the Fall. Having already shown that there is every reason to believe 

 that a proportion of the eggs (the proportion increasing northward) 

 are laid early in S;3ring, and that they are laid by preference — if not 

 solely — in or on the mature or last year's stalks, it follows that burn- 

 ing will prove effectual in either event ; for a burned field presents no 

 such mature stalks in Spring. Heavy rolling on land that is suffi- 

 ciently smooth would have a similar beneficial effect, and may also be 

 employed to good advantage to destroy the worms after they have 

 hatched. 



As the Army Worm appears in vast numbers during certain years 

 only, and at irregular intervals, and as this appearance is rather sud- 

 den and seldom, if ever, anticipated by the farmer, burning as a 

 remedy loses much of its importance, except where it is practiced 

 annually; and in view of the benefit of such burning in destroying 

 chinch bugs and other insects it is to be regretted that the practice of 

 winter burning of fields, prairies, straw-piles, weeds and other litter 

 and rubbish does not more generally prevail : the destruction of in- 

 jurious insects by such a system would far outweigh the benefit de- 

 rived from plowing these stalks and weeds under or leaving them to 

 gradually decay. 



The worms may be prevented, as a general thing, from passing 

 from one field to another, by judicious ditching. It is important, how- 

 ever, that the ditch should be made so that the side toward the field 

 to be protected be dug under. About every three or four rods a deep 

 hole in the ditch should be made, in which the worms will collect, so 

 that they can be killed by covering them with earth and pressing it 

 down. They may also be destroyed by burning straw over them — the 

 fire not only killing the worms, but rendering the ditch friable and 

 more efficient in preventing their ascent. I have also used coal oil 

 to good advantage, and the worms have a great antipathy to pass a 

 streak of it. Many of my correspondents successfully headed them 

 off by a plowed furrow six or eight inches deep, and kept friable by 

 dragging brush in it. Along the ditch or furrow on the side of the 

 field to be protected, a space of from three to five feet might be thor- 

 oughly dusted (when the dew is on) with a mixture of Paris green 

 and plaster, or flour, so that every worm which succeeds in crossing 

 the ditch will be killed by feeding upon plants so treated. This mix- 

 ture should be in the proportion of one part of pure Paris green to 

 twenty-five or thirty parts of the other materials named. If used in a 

 liquid form, one tablespoonful of Paris green to a bucket of water, 

 kept well stirred, will answer the same purpose. I proved last Spring 

 that this mixture deals death to the worms, but it should only be used 



