CL VER CORN 315 



WIRE-WORMS ( Elateridce) . Hard, yellowish, or reddish, cylin- 

 drical larvae feeding on the roots. 



Preventives. Crop rotation ; let clover intervene between sod 

 and corn, planting the corn late the second or third year. Early 

 fall plowing. 



CUT-WORMS (Agrotis, Hadena, etc.). Soft-bodied caterpillars eat- 

 ing and cutting off the young plants. See p. 302. 



Preventives. Early fall plowing of grass lands intended fpr 

 corn ; pasturing by pigs of grass or clover land intended for corn ; 

 distributing a line of poisoned bran by means of a seed-drill. To 

 prevent the caterpillars entering from a neighboring grass field, 

 destroy them with a line of poisoned vegetable bait. 



SOD WEB- WORMS (Crambus spp.). Gray or brownish caterpillars 

 about one-half inch long, living in a silk-lined burrow in the soil at 

 base of the plant. They thrive in grass land. 



Preventive. Early fall plowing of grass land intended for 

 corn, or else plow as late as possible the next spring. 



ARMY- WORM. (Leucania unipuncta). A cut- worm-like caterpillar, 

 which normally feed on grass. When this food supply is exhausted, 

 they migrate in numbers to other fields .and attack corn, wheat, 

 etc. 



Preventive. To stop the advance of the " army," plow deep 

 furrows so the dirt is thrown towards the colony ; in the bottom of 

 the furrow dig post holes into which the caterpillars will fall and 

 where they may be killed with kerosene. 



CHINCH-BUG (Blissus leucopterus) . A red or white and black suck- 

 ing bug, three-twentieths of an inch long. Attacks wheat and 

 corn in great numbers. 



Preventives. Clean farming to destroy suitable hibernating 

 shelter. Stop the migration of the bugs from the wheat-fields into 

 corn by maintaining along the field a dust strip ten feet wide in 

 which a furrow and post-hole barrier has been constructed. This 

 may be supplemented by a coal-tar barrier. 



GRASSHOPPERS (Acrididce). Poison them with the Criddle mix- 

 ture (p. 293). 



CORN EAR- WORM (Heliothis armiger). A green or brownish striped 

 caterpillar feeding on the corn beneath the husk. Three to six 

 generations yearly. 



