48 FARM SPIES 



Grimes was right, then ; he said it was a worm, and 

 so did the boys. What is it? " 



"It is the bud-worm of corn," Mr. Colby replied. 



The boys and their father, having seen Mr. 

 Colby and the demonstrator enter the field, had 

 come and joined them because they were anxious 

 to learn something about the worms. 



" Why do you call it the bud-worm ? " they asked 

 Mr. Colby. 



"They do not seem to be in the bud, but in the 

 plant below the ground/' Mr. Smith remarked at 



the same time when the 



^^^^^^^^^^^^ others asked their ques- 



(After Chittenden, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr.) tlOn. 



FIG. 25. "it is the bud-worm of Mr. Colby then told 



corn." . m 



them that the injury to 



the bud was not from the outside like a worm eating 

 the leaves, but from the inside where one cannot see 

 it without cutting the plant. "These little worms," 

 he continued, "known as larvaa, because they are 

 the young of insects, and are not really worms, bore 

 into the tender stalk of the young corn plant, 

 usually at the base where the roots come out. There 

 they feed, cutting off all of the inside of the stalk 

 except one or two of the outer layers, and this causes 

 the bud to die, leaving one or two green leaves at 

 the bottom of the stalk standing up like the ears of 

 the fox. After killing the bud, the larvae feed 



