108 AMERICAN HOME GARDEX. 



The moths that become the parent of the cut worm are not 

 certainly known, but are supposed by Dr. Fitch to be the dart 

 moth above referred to, and other evening or owlet moths of 

 similar character. 



The eggs are dropped upon the ground in the latter part of 

 summer ; they soon hatch, and the young worm crawls into 

 the ground and feeds upon the roots and young shoots of her- 

 baceous plants. When cold weather comes it descends a few 

 inches below the surface, and remains torpid till spring. Late 

 in the summer it becomes a chrysalis, which resembles a long, 

 thin egg, of a chestnut-brown color, having several impressed 

 rings or joints toward its pointed or tail end. From this, in 

 three or four weeks, the miller or moth comes forth, the parent 

 of another generation. 



The cut worm is of various shades, from light drab to black, 

 and of different varieties, which are not clearly distinguished 

 by writers on insects. Most of them have the habit, whence 

 their name is derived, of cutting off the young leaves or ten- 

 der stems of plants just above the ground, and drawing them 

 into the mouth of their hole, furnishing, like some other thieves, 

 a clew to discovery by the effort to hide. 



The red-headed cut worms, or tiger worms, found south of 

 New York, cut under ground. Their depredations are contin- 

 ued throughout the summer upon the young corn, beans, pep- 

 pers, etc., but they are most numerous in June and July, at 

 which time they are so destructive to the young, freshly-set 

 cabbage-plants that it is common for market-gardeners to de- 

 fer planting until they disappear, which they generally do near 

 New York before the first of August, going deeper into the 

 ground, and assuming the chrysalis form. 



The crow, with some other birds, and a species of dragon-fly, 

 are inveterate enemies of the cut worm, and Fitch recom- 

 mends the making of deep holes with a stick about their places 

 of resort, into which they fall, and, it is supposed, can not get 

 out. This, however, would appear not only doubtful, but also 

 as involving, perhaps, more labor than the ordinary and direct 

 course, which is simply to glance along the rows of your crop 

 early in the day. and, wherever the presence of the marauder is 



