MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 207 



is a mixture of molasses, vinegar, and cobalt. This attracts the 

 moths, and they stick in it and perish. White cotton flags, a 

 yard square, are sometimes used, which allure the moths, and 

 they deposit their eggs on them. The nests of eggs must also 

 be destroyed, and fortunately they are easily found, as the moth 

 cuts the midrib of the leaf, and ties it down with a thread to 

 protect the eggs. These insects eat nothing but cotton, and 

 when they appear in countless numbers they provide for their 

 own destruction, for they consume every leaf on the field, and 

 start feebly for another, but they can not surmount ditches and 

 fences, and the hot sun kills them, and in two days from the time 

 the crop is eaten up not one of the army may be found alive. 



THE ARMY-WORM. This differs from the cotton-moth in ap- 

 pearance and habits, and is not so difficult an enemy to fight. 

 Its voracity is equal to that of the cotton-worm, and it consumes 

 all green crops that come in its way. It is longer lived than 

 the cotton-worm, can travel much faster, and overcome greater 

 obstacles. The most effective obstacle to its march is a clean- 

 cut ditch, which need not be deep, but should have a perpendic- 

 ular side next to the field to be protected. The worm travels 

 from south to north, so that you may always know which side 

 of the field to begin to fortify. As a rule, the planter will hear 

 of their approach in time to open the ditch. They will often 

 come in such numbers as to fill the ditch and pass over, so it 

 will be necessary to be ready with all the force to guard the 

 field. A log dragged back and forth in the ditch will destroy 

 them. When they are so near, or approaching so rapidly, that 

 there is not time to complete the ditch, their progress may be 

 retarded by scattering a line of straw and setting fire to it. 



THE BOLL-WORM. The-boll worm is an annual pest. It be- 

 gins work as soon as the bolls are formed. It never destroys 

 the crop, but pierces three or four, and sometimes as many as 

 ten, bolls, nearly, or quite, killing them. The natural food of 

 the worm is corn. The moths pair early in July, and four days 

 later the female deposits on the silk of the growing corn about 

 seven hundred and fifty eggs. The worms hatch in three days, 

 and feed for two weeks on the corn and silk. It then goes into 



