GARDEN INSECTS. 31 



purposes ^xe may discuss them as a class. They are the caterpillars 

 of our most common night-fl^-ing moths, known as the Owlet 

 moths and belonging to the family Noctuidae. ^Nlost of the common 

 "moth millers" which fly to our lights through an open window 

 belong to this group of moths. For this reason, the use of trap 

 lanterns for catching the moths has often been advocated, but 

 practical experiments have failed to show a sufficient number of 

 'injurious forms caught to make the trap lights profitable. Cut- 

 worms are usually one and one-half to two inches in length, dark 

 gray or broMn, marked with dull stripes or dashes of brown, black, 

 or green, usually sombre colored caterpillars. They should be 

 distinguished from the common white grubs, the young of our com- 

 mon Alay beetles or June bugs, Avhich often cut off strawberry 

 jjlants and are consequently sometimes termed cutworms by those 

 unacquainted with these pests. The white grubs are pure white. 

 The reddish browTi head and legs always remain curled up and 

 never feed above ground, while the true cutworms often climb 

 up on the plants and rag the foliage. Cutworms hibernate over 

 winter in the soil in a partially grown state and emerge with raven- 

 ous appetites as soon as some green stuff appears in the garden for 

 their breakfast. Their work is done entirely at night, cabbages, 

 tomatoes, beans, corn and similar vegetable^ being cut off at the 

 surface of the ground and the plant is often dragged down into the 

 soil, or the foliage is seriously eaten. During the day the culprits 

 bury themselves in the soil often at some little distance from the 

 plant, so that one must look carefully to find them. 



The cutworms become full grown during the middle or latter 

 part of June, when they transform to pupae, from which the moths 

 emerge in late July and August. The moths deposit their eggs on 

 grass land or on such grass and weeds as grow up after a crop is 

 harvested. The young cutworms hatch and feed upon the roots 

 of such herbage during the fall until frost. Deep plowing in late 

 fall has already been mentioned as one of the best means of cutworm 

 control and it is evident that clean culture after a crop has been 

 removed will probably lessen the number of eggs deposited in a 

 garden. Cutworms are always to be found in old sod land which 

 should therefore be avoided for immediate use for gardening. 

 Where injury is expected one of the best methods for destroying 



