CUT WORMS AND CANKER WORMS 467 



Cut worms and army worms may also be captured by means of 

 traps. Because of their habit of feeding at night and remaining con- 

 cealed during the day, pieces of boards may be placed on the ground 

 around the growth to be protected and these may be turned over 

 during the day and the worms killed. 



In case of outbreaks of army worms the most important and 

 successful means of fighting them is to keep them out of the orchard 

 or vineyard entirely. This can be successfully done if they are dis- 

 covered in time, or if already in one portion, they can be kept from 

 spreading over the rest of the property. They travel in immense 

 numbers in a definite direction, coming generally from an adjoining 

 or nearby grain field. If a Jpurrow is plowed along the side of the 

 place to be protected it will effectively stop their progress. This fur- 

 row should be plowed as deep as possible, with the vertical side next to 

 the field to be protected. It can be further trimmed with a spade, 

 preferably cutting under slightly, making a smooth surface, over 

 which few if any, of the worms will make their way. Above this 

 shoulder a fine pulverized earth should slope as abruptly upward as 

 possible. If any of the worms succeed in climbing up over the 

 smooth surface made by the spade they will be pretty sure to fall 

 back as they reach this fine loose earth in an attempt to ascend over 

 the projecting shoulder. Pestholes should be dug on the straight 

 edge of the furrow every fifteen or twenty feet. The worms in failing 

 to scale the vertical side of the furrow will crawl along in the bottom 

 and fall into these holes. Here they may be killed by pouring in a 

 little crude oil, or by pouring in a little distillate and dropping in a 

 match, thus burning them, or the holes filled in and others dug. They 

 may also be killed in the furrow by sprinkling them with kerosene or 

 by pouring a strip of crude oil along the furrow. 



Canker Worms. These are destructive leaf-feeding caterpillars, 

 commonly known also as inchworms, loopers or measuring worms, 

 because of the peculiar looping gait by which they move about. The 

 male moths are slender bodied and have broad, thin wings, while the 

 females are wingless, heavy-bodied creatures. 



While these caterpillars can in large measure be controlled by 

 spraying with lead arsenate or Paris green, it is by far the best to 

 use the trap method of control and avoid having them upon the 

 trees at all. The trap method depends for its success upon the fact 

 that the wingless female moth upon emerging from her cocoon in 

 the ground immediately crawls up the trunk of the nearby tree and 

 places her eggs upon the twigs. By trapping the females on their 

 way up into the trees no eggs can be placed near the foliage and the 

 caterpillars hatching from them can do no damage. The traps are 

 made thus: Take No. 16 or No. 14 wire cloth in strips six inches 

 wide, draw and tack the top edge close to the trunk of the tree over a 

 bandage of cloth which is put on first to make the joint tight. The 

 lower edge should flare out about an inch from the tree all around. 

 This trap will need rather frequent cleaning while the moths are active. 



Tent Caterpillars. Several species of hairy caterpillars called 

 "tent caterpillars," or "web worms," from their spinning covers of 



