262 



AGRICULTURE 



possible to have the corn silking and in condition to attract 

 the moths when they are most abundant in July and 

 August. The cotton is left almost uninjured. This prac- 

 tice is in addition to that of plowing the ground early in 



the winter to 

 break up the cells 

 in which the 

 pupae are passing 

 the winter. 



The cotton worm. 

 A number of 

 years ago this was 

 the most serious 

 enemy of cotton, 

 but more recently 

 it has been less 

 injurious. The 

 caterpillars be- 

 come abundant 

 rather late in the 

 season and may 

 strip all of the 

 foliage from the 

 plants. They may quite easily be reduced in numbers 

 by dusting the cotton plants with Paris green mixed with 

 flour. Strange as it may seem, this worm has recently 

 come to be considered as beneficial to those sections of 

 the cotton belt where the boll weevil occurs. It deprives 

 the boll weevil of food by practically killing the cotton 

 plant. 



Courtesy U. S. Bur. Entomology 



FIG. 171. FOUR STAGES OF THE COTTON- 

 BOLL WORM, ALL ENLARGED 



