72 THE ARMY WORM 



kerosene emulsion. This is prepared by adding 2 gallons of 

 kerosene to i gallon of a solution made by dissolving 5^ pound 

 of hard soap in i gallon of boiling water, and churning the 

 mixture bv forcing it back into the same vessel througfh a force- 

 pump with a rather small nozzle, until the whole forms a creamy 

 mass, which w ill thicken into a )ell3'-like substance on cooling. 

 The soap solution should be hot when the kerosene is added, 

 but of course must not be near a fire. The emulsion thus made 

 is to be diluted before using against the army worm with five 

 or six parts of water to one part of emulsion. The amount of 

 dilution varies with different insects. Soft water or rain water 

 should be used in diluting. If this cannot be obtained add a 

 little lye or bicarbonate of soda. It should be applied with a 

 spray pump or nozzle. 



Trapping in Ditches aiid Trenches. — The device of stopping 

 the armies of travelling worms by means of ditches and trenches 

 occurred to the earliest sufferers from their depredations. In 

 the New Hampshire outbi'eak of 1770, Mr. Powers tells us that 

 the inhabitants "• dug trenches ai'ound their fields a foot and a 

 half deep, hoping this might prove a defense ; but they soon 

 filled the ditch, and the millions that were in the rear went over 

 on the backs of their fellows in the trench and took possession 

 of the interdicted food. The inhabitants then adopted another 

 expedient to save those fields yet standing. They cut a trench 

 as before ; then took round and smooth sapling sticks, of six or 

 eight inches diameter and six or eight feet in length, sharpened 

 them to a point, and with these made holes in the bottom of 

 the ditch, once in two or three feet ; and as their meadows 

 were bottom lands, they experienced no difficulty in extending 

 these holes to two or three feet in depth below the bottom of 

 the trench. The sides of these holes were made smooth by the ' 

 bar or lever which made the holes, and as "soon as the worm 

 stepped from the precipice he ended at the bottom, and could 

 not ascend again ; indeed, he was soon buried by his unfortu- 

 nate fellows who succeeded him in his downfall. Now those 

 who made these holes to entrap their invaders went around 

 their fields and plunged these pointed levers into the holes 

 filled with worms, and destroyed every one of them at a single 

 thrust." Similar methods of fencing off' the worms have often 



