42 



worm. It is possible that the piercing of the ground 

 with a crow bar, in two, three, or half a dozen places, 

 near the plant, might entrap some of them ; and though 

 laborious, this process might, in some extreme cases, 

 where these worms are very numerous, be worth resort- 

 ing to, inasmuch as it would, in some degree operate 

 as a preventive of mischief, while the cultivator sleeps, 

 or is absent for other reasons. If the depredator falls into 

 the hole, he will be pretty sure to be hindered awhile 

 from his mischief, and if the cultivator drops his bar into 

 same holes, at his next round, the hindrance would be- 

 come permanent. But we doubt whether there is any 

 way less laborious, than to crush them under the heel, 

 or more than half as sure. Some would say^ instead of 

 using the heel, use a stick of wood, say six feet long, an 

 inch and a half through at the lowep end, and enlarging 

 slightly upwards, on the ground that this, brought down 

 heavily upon the depredator, would not only put a stop 

 to his mischief, but, when withdrawn, would leave a trap 

 for his fellows. AVhere the cut-worms are very numer- 

 ous and destructive, we think the suggestion may be 

 worth heeding, as the killing of each worm would vir- 

 tually be the setting of a trap for more. 



Plowing late in the fall, and then again early in the 

 spring, tends much to diminish these pests ; but it can- 

 not be relied upon to kill them all ; the survivors must 

 be met promptly and annihilated ; or a full crop of 

 tobacco, uniform in the time of ripening, and all of a 

 superior quality, cannot be expected. 



Replanting in the spaces should be attended to 

 promptly, but it cannot wholly repair the mischief, as 

 the replanted hills will rarely show precisely the same 

 forwardness as the first planted. 



