298 MONTHLY JOURNAL OP AGRICULTURE. 



October 22d, 1847. 



Dear Sir : — Yon were pleased to ask me for such observations in regard to the Tobacco 

 ■worm as my actual experience enabled me to make. In compliance with that request I state 

 the following facts. 



The worm we see upon the Tobacco, and which does so much injury to that plant, in- 

 creases in size rapidly, and in a few days arrives at lull age for its exit from the scene of its 

 then voracious activity. Instinct moves it to bury itself under ground to the depth of six or 

 eight inches. In this self-made grave it undergoes a change, gradual (and perceptilde to the 

 naked eye) in all its variations, until it emerges into light once more, as a sort of butterfly, 

 which we planters term " Horn-blower." Oi this you no doubt have an engraving. These 

 " Horn-blowers" make their appearance about the middle of May. Then, every evening and. 

 morning, when it is cool, you see them flying about among the flowers of the garden, and 

 sipping their nectar from the blossoms of every flower and weed, but particularly delighting 

 in the tobacco blossom and the Jamestown weed. These Horn-blowers lay their eggs in 

 myriads on the tobacco leaves, — not in clusters but separafehj, seldom more tlian one or two* 

 eggs in a place, and not often more than four or five on a whole leaf. In a i"ortnight or there- 

 about, these eggs burst and the contents are found to be an active little worm, hardly per- 

 ceivable to the human eye unaided by a glass. By the time it is visible it has eaten a hole 

 through the leaf about as big as a pin's head ; — in a few days it will destioy pounds of to- 

 bacco in its green state. Its digestive organs are wonderfully active. It is constantly eating, 

 growing in size, and discharging excrement, which is hard and black and round, resembling 

 in size and form " Lee's Anti-Bilious Pills." It is a fact no less true than wonderful that tliis 

 petty woiTn, never reaching to the weight of 2 oz. should, in ten or fifteen days, consume 

 and digest 2 or 3 lbs. of green food. They make considerable noise when eating, after they 

 have obtained a good size. What becomes of the butterfly or "Horn-blower" I do not 

 know, and have no speculative theory on the subject. 



I think they might, in a few years, be exterminated if every planter would pursue this 

 course, to wit. : About the last of November or first of December, after hard frosts have 

 set in, plow up, very deep, the field in which tobacco was grown the same year. Those that 

 were in the chrysalis state would be turned out and destioyed by the frost, snow and rains. 

 Very early in March go about the tobacco houses and dig up the floors, scrape under the 

 sills, and plow for some distance around the houses, and destroy every one that can be 

 seen. Make it also a point to reward liberally every ueg)'0, old and young, for each Horn- 

 blower's head throughout the u-ko!e year. Let these rules be pursued by every planter and 

 they cotild be extenninated. A gentleman of my acquaintance ofiered, the past season, one 

 cent for every Horn-blower that his negroes should catch and bring to him. He allowed 

 them one hour before sunset to stop work for the purpose of catching " Blowers." The 

 first evening his people brought him in 1,650! ! ! Another paid, during the season, fifteen or 

 twenty dollars at only a fourth of a cent a head. A capital fanner in digging about his to- 

 bacco house for the manure which had there accumulated, mu.st have destroyed a bushel of 

 worms in the chrysalis state. To show how plenty these insects are I here state the fact that 

 I had in 1846 a piece of tobacco of 40,000 plants, and in two days there were gathered 16 

 bushels of worms from those plants, and then we thought that we had fully one-half or two- 

 thirds of them. I have often seen a quart taken from one plant. These facts have been 

 hastily thrown together ; I hope they may be of some use to you. 



Yours most trvily, W. W. W. BOWIE. 



To the above suggestion for the destruction of the worm we Avould recommend 

 at least a linlited trial with salt. The more recent experiments in England go 

 to show great efficacy in the action of salt used for the destruction of grubs. We 

 know not at what cost it can be applied in our country, but we have great confi- 

 dence in its usefulness in that way when combined with the fall plowing recom- 

 metided by Mr. Bowie. In a subsequent letter he says : " I have no experience in 

 regard to guano on tobacco in the field ; — in the bed it is a powerful assistant to the 

 growth of the plants if used judiciously ; but, to my dear bought knowledge, will, 

 if used freely, destroy the plants. The proper mode is to use it in the liquid state 

 — say one half bushel of guano to a hogshead of water ; and when dissolved pour 

 it over the plants, by means of a watering-pot. The result will be astonishingly 

 beneficial." 



One thing we would here suggest, to accelerate the growth of plants, that 

 whereas a black surface is more absorbent and retentive of heat than a lighter 

 one, if coal-dust of any kind could be sifted over the bed, it would increase the 

 "warmth and the fertility of the soil, and so forward the germination of the seed 

 and the growth of the plant ; and this suggestion may be useful where it is ue- 



1618) 



