FARMERS REGISTER— ARMY WORM. 



421 



the coninioji cutworm, but was brighter, more ac- 

 tive and larger, some of them attaining a size 

 equal to the silk-worm. The chrysalis is naked, 

 bright brown, closely resembling that of the cut- 

 worm. The moth is dark ash colored, longer than 

 tlie silk molh, wings horizontal. 



In this account 1 shall simply detail /acts as they 

 took place on my own farm, or under my own ob- 

 servation. They were first discovei'cd in our set- 

 tlement, by their devastations, on the 14Lh and 

 15th of May. I first saw them on the 17th on my 

 way home. When about a mile irom home, I ob- 

 served the timothy belonging to one of my neigh- 

 bors, had become veiy black, and on riding up to 

 ascertain the cause, I learned that the worms had 

 eaten the roots in such a manner as to cause the 

 tops to die and dry away; and that he had been 

 burning the dead grass with the intention of killing 

 the worms, but in this he was disappointed, as 

 they fell to tlie ground on the approach ol" the fire, 

 and the flames passed over and lelt them unin- 

 jured; the ground being literally alive with them 

 afler every vestige of vegetation was consumed by 

 the fire. I ought to observe that the whole coun- 

 try was not covered with them in this manner; they 

 were associated in droves or armies of vast size, 

 and between these armies sometimes a considera- 

 ble space would be entirely clear. I will confine 

 my account of their progress, to my own farm; and 

 in order to make my account intelligible, I must 

 premise that my tarm is laid out in the following 

 order: on the north, a field containing wheat and 

 rye, and in the south west corner a little flax; 

 south oi this on the east side of the farm, eight 

 acres of oats; on the west side, a corn field; be- 

 tween these two fields is situated the dwelling 

 house, garden and out buildings; south of these 

 fields is situated a field containing timothy, red 

 top and clover, from necessity occupied this season 

 as a pasture for calves, hogs, and geese; from the 

 south field is a lane, to the dwelling, sown with 

 blue grass, red top, and timothy. The worms 

 were at first discovered in the open prairie east of 

 the oat field, afterwards in the south field and grass 

 lane, and lastly in the rye. 



I must now endeavor to give you some account 

 of their motions; during the early part of the day 

 they generally lay still, and commenced travelling 

 about two in the afternoon, and continued travel- 

 ling and feeding from that time through a princi- 

 pal part of the night. On the 23d they commenced 

 moving towards the field of oats, which set me 

 upon the following mode of ditching in order to 

 prevent their inroads, which I believe is the only 

 mode that can be employed on a large scale, with 

 any prospect of success. I commenced by run- 

 ning several furrows with the plough, one within 

 another, so as to make a ditch about a foot deep, 

 and render the earth mellow and dusty; then take 

 a s])ade or a hoe, and clean out the loose earth 

 from the bottom and lay it on the side which jou 

 wish to prevent the worms rising. When they 

 attempt to climb, the loose earth will give way 

 and they will fldl to the bottom of the ditch, where 

 large numbers of them will be destroyed by the 

 heat of the sun; and if a i'ew should accidentally 

 cross the first ditch, another must be made parallel 

 to the first, into which they fall. Where the 

 worms are numerous, these ditches must be clean- 

 ed every day, otherwise the worms in attempting 

 to climb, will fill the ditches. I had upward cf 



two miles of this kind of ditidung, by means 

 whereof I saved a principal part of my oats, and 

 could I have completed my ditching tliree hours 

 earlier, I have no doubt but I could have saved 

 twelve out of sixteen acres of corn which was 

 destroyed. After the worms commence travelling, 

 if they find sulBcient food, they only travel a few 

 steps in the twenty-lour hours, but if they find lit- 

 tle or nothing to eat, tliey will travel at least a 

 quarter of a mile in the same length of time. 

 Though large bodies of the worms travel in this 

 manner in pursuit of food, considerable numbers 

 never leave the place where they were produced, 

 but lor lack of other food subsist on dry gi-ass and 

 even corn husks. 



On the 24th, the worms entered the oat field 

 and destroyed about an acre in twenty-four hours, 

 in defiance of every exertion to stop them by 

 ditching, as a slight shower fell in the evenino-, 

 which appeared to ciiuse them to travel and feed 

 with greater voracity, and the rain dampening the 

 dust on the sides of the ditches enabled them to 

 cross. On the 25th, still moving west of north, 

 they advanced towards the corn field and entered 

 a lane passing between the oats and cornfield, as 

 well as passing along the ditches which I was pre- 

 paring with all possible expedition along the east 

 fence, occasionally a i'ew crossing the first ditch 

 which rendered it necessary to make parallel 

 ditches. On tl\e 26th, after cleaning the ditches 

 around the oats, the worms being now on three 

 sides, I succeeded about three in the aflernoon, in 

 completing ditches along the south and east side 

 of the corn, and hastened to the north side joinini^ 

 the rye, fearing that by this time they migiit be 

 able to head the ditch on the east. V/hen 1 got to 

 the rye I found a younger army of worms travel- 

 ling south from the rye to the corn; and notwith- 

 standing every effort to stop them by ditchino-, a 

 sufficient number crossed completely to destroy 

 the sixteen acres of corn before tlie morning of 

 the 27tli. The army of smaller worms appeared 

 to have been produced in the rye field, and meet- 

 ing with the other army now entering the rye fi-om 

 the south east corner they completely destroyed 

 the wheat to the ground, but only took the blade 

 from the chess and rye. The reason of the worms 

 being most severe upon the wheat arose fi-om the 

 fact of my wheat being of a late variety, havino- 

 at that time shot out no stems, whilst the rye and 

 chess were in bloom; but some of my neighbors 

 who had early varieties of wheat happily had 

 the case reversed, as the worms destroyed the 

 chess and left the wheat but little injured. Flax 

 was likewise considerably injured, in some places 

 completely destroyed; but what is ver3^ remarka- 

 ble, the worms never interrupted any kind of tree 

 or bush, either timber or fruit tree. Red clover 

 was little or nothing injured, but timothy and red 

 top were cvit to the ground, and in many places 

 even the roots were destroyed, but the roots of 

 mine were preserved by the industry of the hogs 

 and geese. The hogs likewise destroyed vast 

 numbers along the fences east of the oats and corn: 

 every kind of poultry eat them greedily, and the 

 birds which are generally so mischievous in our 

 corn fields, ha\'e this season been permitted to 

 rear their young in peace, on account of their ser- 

 vice in destroying the army worm. But notwith- 

 standing their numerous enemies, they were all 

 f^aliated without destrovinjr ihe worm.'; multitudes 



