INSECTS 181 



the potato injured by the potato beetle; the cabbage 

 plant injured by the cabbage worm; the apple coddling 

 moth; wheat Hessian fly; corn chinch bug; cottonboll- 

 weevil. 



Amount of injury by insects. The total loss to agri- 

 culture in the United States, occasioned by insects, is 

 enormous, amounting, according to good authority, at least 

 to ten per cent of the total production. Thus in 1915, the 

 wheat crop which amounted to about $1,000, 000,000 might 

 have been worth $100,000,000 more had it not been reduced 

 by insect injuries. 



The constant danger of damage by insects to growing 

 crops is well illustrated by a reference to corn. " This crop 

 may suffer from insect injuries from the time the seed is 

 put into the ground until the meal is ready to use. The 

 kernels just planted may be destroyed by wire worms, the 

 young plants may die because their roots are eaten by wire 

 worms or white grubs, or the juices of the roots may be 

 sucked up by corn-root lice. If the plants escape destruction 

 by these enemies, the soft stems may be injured by the burrow- 

 ing of stalk borers, their leaves and stems pierced by bill 

 bugs, or the whole plant cut off by cut worms. Should they 

 still survive, the young leaves may be eaten by corn worms 

 which may later attack the developing grains in the ears. 

 Entire plants may be seriously injured, in May or June, by 

 army worms, or a month later by chinch bugs as they come 

 in from adjacent wheat and oat fields. When nearly mature, 

 plants may fall over because the larger roots have been eaten 

 by corn-root worms or cut in two by white grubs, or because 

 the brace roots have been weakened by chinch bugs that 

 have sucked away the sap. After the corn has been harvested 

 and put into the crib, the kernels of the ears may be made 



