240 /.V <': 75 AFFECTING VEGETATION 



whether the winter storms are snows or merely cold rains. Wher- 

 ever the weevil is not bad, fall plowing for the bollworm can be post- 

 poned until late fall or early winter. The boll worms feed by pref- 

 erence on corn, and are the same as the corn-ear worm. Advantage 

 is taken of this taste of the worm to trap and destroy them by means 

 of early June corn. It has been observed that the moths 'will lay 

 their eggs on the silfc of green corn, if this is obtainable, when they 

 are flying, in marked preference to cotton or other cultivated plants. 

 The moths of the third generation, which fly in August, do not like 

 the hard ears of the corn for laving their eggs, and so they seek the 

 succulent bolls of cotton for this purpose. If therefore some green 

 corn is standing near by in silk, the cotton will be saved. When the 

 cotton seed is planted, leave vacant strips every 25 or 30 rows 

 across the fields. In these sow June corn about June 1, followed 

 in ten days by cowpeas in alternating rows. This will put the corn 

 in silk and the cowpeas in bloom about August 1. The blossoms of 

 the cowpeas will attract the moths which will seek the nectar for 

 their own food. They will then lay the bulk of their eggs on the 

 silk of the corn which they can find so handy right by the peas. 

 About three weeks later the ends of the ears can be cut off to destroy 

 the worms. The fodder and the grain will entirely pay for planting 

 the corn, and the cowpeas will enrich the soil which will produce 

 more cotton the next year, and thus they will pay for themselves 

 in a year's time. All the steps above advised for securing an early 

 crop of cotton to escape the boll weevil should also be taken wher- 

 ever the bollworm is the worse pest The first two generations of 

 worms do very little harm, and those that hatch from the eggs laid 

 by the third generation of moths in August attack first of all the 

 young tender bolls. There is plenty of evidence to prove that they 

 do not attack the bolls that are about three-fourths grown at this 

 time; that is to say, the young worms that hatch in August do 

 not eat into the large bolls. Naturally big bolls will be found later 

 in the season damaged by the large or full-grown worms. Most 

 of the bolls that are three-fourths grown by the time the third or 

 destructive generation of worms are on hand will escape injury. 



The writer would call attention to the importance of not omit- 

 ting any of the above mentioned steps in the control of the boll 

 weevil and the bollworm. If anything is left undone, the pests will 

 be more or less troublesome in spite of the attempts that have been 

 made to control the pests. Success in the control of both insects de- 

 pends on the principle of finish in the work. Half-hearted, slovenly 

 methods will not succeed. If a man half does his work, he can 

 not expect over half a crop. There is a great deal of truth in the 

 proverb, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that snail he also reap." 



In case leaf-eating worms are especially severe feeding on the 

 leaves in certain fields, even with proper farm management, it is 

 possible to poison them by means of powdered arsenate of lead 

 dusted on the plants late in July or early August wherever the small 

 worms are appearing on the leaves. A Champion dust gun should 

 be used, as this is much more thorough than using a sack. The ap- 



