capable of ridding a considerable quantity of seed bed of cut- 

 worms in a short space of time, and of rendering the use of 

 insecticides unnecessary. Each half -grown cutworm destroyed 

 may be reckoned as a score or more of plants saved. 



In the field, cutworms may be destroyed by hand as above, 

 but here the plants are very much wider apart than in the seed 

 beds, and the distribution of poisoned bait after the damage has 

 commenced is of considerable value, and should be practised if 

 necessary. 



STEM BORER. (Phthorimcea heliopa. Lwr.} This little- 

 insect is, without doubt, a native of South Africa, but it is also- 

 recorded as injurious to this crop in India. The moth is closely 

 related to the tobacco miner, and is similar in size. It is, how- 

 ever, readily distinguished by its redder coloration. The larv 

 of the two species are very much more difficult to identify.. 

 They are whitish caterpillars, often delicately tinted with pale 

 green and pink. They reach a length of half an inch. Th& 

 life history has not yet been followed in this country. Mr, 

 Maxwell Lefroy gives the following short account of the life 

 history in India : ' The moth lays a single egg on the leaf 

 stalk, the emerging larva boring down through the leaf stalk to- 

 the stem in which it lives. Pupation takes place inside the- 

 stem, the full-grown larva preparing an exit hole through which, 

 the moth can escape." He adds, elsew r here : " Apparently 

 the pest is not injurious to healthy vigorous tobacco, but is 

 w r orst in a season of drought." Experience in Southern Kho- 

 desia points to the fact that serious damage usually occurs as 

 the result of infestation of the seed beds. The moth is evi- 

 dently on the wing very early in the season, for the seedlings 

 are frequently attacked when quite small. The presence of the 

 larva in the stem causes a swelling to form, and above this 

 swelling the plant will not grow. Suckers grow out from be- 

 neath the swollen portion on the stem, but if unaided, practi- 

 cally no leaf worth reaping is produced. 



Preventive measures lie in keeping the moths from the 

 seedlings in the beds, by careful attention to the soundness and 

 adjustment of the covers, especially at night, and in discarding 

 seedlings shewing swellings when planting out. All volunteer 

 tobacco plants growing on the lands about the seed beds and 

 about the homestead should be destroyed during the winter, as 

 they provide breeding places for the moth. 



