118 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



tachina-fly eggs on them (Fig. 87) should never be destroyed 

 where avoidable. 



Control. When detected, all. efforts should be centred on 

 keeping the worms out of crops not yet attacked and confining 

 their injury to as small an area as possible. As a barrier to 

 their progress, there is nothing better than a dust furrow made 

 as already described for chinch-bugs (p. 91), two or three of 

 which may be found necessary in cool weather or where a fine 

 dust cannot be maintained. 



Deep fall plowing and thorough harrowing will be effective 

 against the hibernating larvae, as will the burning of all grass 

 along ditches, fences, and spots where the larvae normally live. 



By thorough spraying, or perhaps better by dusting, a strip 

 of the crop with Paris green or some arsenical, and liberally 

 distributing poisoned bran mash (see p. 47), large numbers 

 may be destroyed. Where they are massed in furrows they 

 may be destroyed by spraying them with pure kerosene or crude 

 petroleum. 



As in fighting chinch-bugs the army worm must be given 

 immediate and conclusive combat if the loss of crops is to be 

 prevented, for they move rapidly and destroy all in their path. 



The Fall Army Worm * 



Though somewhat the same in its habits as the true army 

 worm, the Fall Army Worm is so called because it appears later 

 in the season, the former species being rarely injurious after 

 August 1st. It is also more omnivorous, for while the army 

 worm prefers grasses, and grains, the fall army worm feeds 

 upon a large variety of crops, including sugar-beets, cow-peas, 

 millet, sweet potatoes, and many other forage and truck crops. 

 In Nebraska and the Central West it is a serious pest of alfalfa 

 and is called the Alfalfa Worm. It is also sometimes very de- 

 structive to lawns, as was the case in Chicago in 1899. The fall 

 army worm is more of a native of the Southern States, but 

 occurs from Canada to the Gulf and west to the Rockies. 

 * Laphygma frugiperda S. and A. Family Noctuidoe. 



