104 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



from becoming sanded or splashed with dirt. 

 Still, such a field is unsightly in the eyes of 

 the careful farmer, and he is willing to dis- 

 pense with any supposed benefits from this 

 cause rather than have the weeds where he 

 would prefer to see clean cultivation. Let it 

 be continually borne in mind that early culti- 

 vation is indispensable. If the use of the cul- 

 tivator and hoe is delayed too long the weeds 

 get the start, which no amount of after culti- 

 vation is able to overcome. Not only is the 

 growth of the plant retarded, but the grass 

 draws from the soil the very food put there to 

 nourish the tobacco plant. When grass grows 

 freely about the plants it is apt to become so 

 firmly rooted as to resist the hoe, or else to re- 

 sult in damage to the plant in the attempt to 

 remove it. Then, too, as early ripening has 

 latterly been regarded as highly desirable, it 

 must not be overlooked that by careful early 

 cultivation the period of ripening may be ad- 

 vanced from one to two weeks. 'This, if the 

 season has been late, is a great advantage, 

 and enables the wide-awake grower to make 

 up by well considered farming for some of the 

 inevitable drawbacks that may have attended 

 the earlier operations of tlie season. 

 The Hawk Moth. 

 While the tobacco planter is carefully at- 

 tending to the grass and weeds, in order that 

 his tobacco plants shall have every advantage 

 thorough culture can give them, another 

 enemy comes to the front, and perhaps the 

 most dangerous of all. This is variously called 

 the "tobacco worm," and "horn worm." The 

 moth from which this worm originates is the 

 well-know dusky-winged miller known to en- 

 tomologists as the Sphinx quinqicemaadatus or 

 Five-spotted Sphinx. This moth is of a greyish 

 color, having five orange-colored spots on each 

 side of its body, from which it takes its name. 

 It may be seen in the summer twilight in our 

 gardens, flitting from flower to flower, from 

 which they extract the sweet juice by means 

 of a remarkable tongue, sometimes five or six 

 inches long. This tongue or proboscis when 

 not in use is coiled up and stowed away be- 

 tween the two feelers. The hawk moth is 

 frequently taken for a humming bird, which 

 at first sight it much resembles, although its 

 flight is much slower and it is more easily ap- 

 proached. The first of this army of moths 

 comes along in June, but not numerously, as a 

 rule. It is the opinion of some that dry 

 weather early in the season is unfavorable to 

 its production, while an early wet season 

 makes them more plentiful. However this 

 may be, the liawk moth comes along in June, 

 and deposits its eggs on the under side of the 

 leaves, when the plants are about a foot high. 

 At first these eggs are greenish in color, but 

 gradually grow yellowish or a cream color, 

 and in about twenty-four hours the hatching 

 process is completed, when the miniature to- 

 bacco worm, hardly thicker than a hair, and 

 only an eighth of an inch long, issues forth on 

 its mission of destruction. Should the eggs 

 have been deposited on the upper side of 

 the leaf, the minute worm at once eats a small 

 hole through the leaf, and passes to the under 

 side to continue its depredations. From the 

 first its appetite is most ravenous, although 

 the damage during the first four or five days 

 of its existence is small, because of their di- 

 minutive size. At the end of about five days 



it sheds its old skin and makes its appearance 

 in a new dress. This is a signal for a renewal 

 of its career of destruction. If not arrested 

 in its course it will soon ruin the most promis- 

 ing crop. Not content with ruining a single 

 leaf, it will, if left alone, destroy an entire 

 plant, and sometimes more. It continues to 

 grow for twenty-five or thirty days, when, 

 having attained its full size, it continues to 

 gorge itself on the juice of the plant a few days 

 longer, after which it crawls to the ground, 

 which it enters, and where it remains in the 

 pupa state about twenty-five days, when it 

 once more sends forth a hawk moth, to re- 

 peat the work of destruction. 



Necessity for Its Destruction. 



As each moth lays about two hundred eggs, 

 it at once becomes apparent that the second 

 crop of tobacco worms, which comes along in 

 August, is much more numerous than the 

 first one. What is more, it comes about the 

 time when the plants are sending out suckers, 

 among which many take refuge when quite 

 small, and thus escape detection. The neces- 

 sity of a resort to every possible means of de- 

 struction at once becomes apparent. Every 

 moth killed before it lays its numerous brood 

 of eggs is so much towards killing off the 

 hosts that come later in the season. Every 

 moth destroyed in June means at least one 

 hundred worms less in August. Hence the 

 importance of a vigorous warfare against the 

 earliest horde that makes its appearance. 

 Unless this is done the latter army is some- 

 times so great as to literally defy the most 

 determined efforts of the tobacco farmer. 

 How to Kill the Hawk Moth. 



Numerous methods have been suggested 

 and are employed to destroy this magnificent 

 moth. It seems to have a strong inclination 

 for the sweet juices found in the " Jimson " 

 or Jamestown weed {Stramoriium,) and where- 

 ever this plant grows the hawk moth will be 

 found hovering over its flowers in the sum- 

 mer nights. We have also noticed that it 

 afi'ects the flowers of the vellow primrose — 

 these plants are regularly resorted to by them 

 for food. These, then, are the places to kill 

 them. While engaged in extracting the nec- 

 tar from the flowers they may be approached 

 and killed. A light paddle will be found a 

 very effective implement for this purpose. 

 The Jamestown weed, planted here and there 

 through the tobacco field, will be sure to draw 

 them. While this method of destroying them 

 is resorted to by some, others inject poison 

 into the flowers of the above plant and thus 

 kill the moth. An ounce of cobalt dissolved in 

 a pint of water is mixed with molasses and a 

 drop or two put into every flower will do the 

 work effectually. Sundown is the best time 

 to do this, and the flowers so treated should 

 be pulled off on the following day, or the en- 

 tire plant may be destroyed. If left, bees 

 will also find the poison, and if not killed 

 themselves, will most surely present their 

 owner with poisoned honey. 



Hawk Moth Traps. 



During the past few years wire traps have 

 been introduced which are hung through the 

 field, with flowers of the Jamestown weed 

 inserted as a bait. They are reported as being 

 effectual, considerable numbers of moths 

 being sometimes captured in a single night. 



An ingenious Tennesseean has also conceived 

 the idea of making imitation Jamestown 

 weed flowers out of porcelain. These are 

 charged with poison every evening and hung 

 through the field. Being cheap, large num- 

 bers can be employed and they are said to do 

 their work very eflectually. So far as we 

 know, they have not been tried in Pennsyl- 

 vania, but they seem to us to merit fovorable 

 consideration. In the use of the above reme- 

 dies or preventives there should be co-opera- 

 tion among the tobacco growers of a district. 

 If such is not the case, no matter how fast 

 one farmer kills off the moths, plenty more 

 will ci«ne from abroad to take their place. 



No matter however concerted or determin- 

 ed a war on the hawk may be waged, plenty 

 will escape every method employed for their 

 destruction and lay their eggs undetected 

 and unharmfed, and the regular succession of 

 tobacco worms will make it appearance. The 

 last and surest remedy is hand picking, and 

 this must be now resorted to. We lay little 

 stress on the traditional flock of turkeys so 

 much spoken of. Turkeys will do far mors 

 harm than good in a tobacco field when the 

 plants are full grown, and would have a very 

 trying time of it in their search for magnifi- 

 cent leaves of "Glessner" or "Pennsylvania 

 Seed-leaf." There is, therefore, no remedy 

 for it. The farmer, or his boys and girls, 

 must go to work with their fingers, and though 

 the worm is repulsive in appearance he is 

 harmless and may be pulled off with impunity 

 and killed. From the hour the hawk moth 

 lays her eggs until the crop is cut down the 

 duty of hunting and removing the worms 

 must be regular and unremitting. Every 

 three days is not too often to go over the field 

 and three times a week would be better still. 

 Especially is this the case with the grower of 

 seed-leaf tobacco. The value of his product 

 depends almost exclusively upon its fitness 

 for cigar wrappers. When full of holes it is 

 useless for this purpose. The freer of holes 

 his crop is the higher the price it will com- 

 mand. It is doubly important to him, there- 

 fore, to get it to market in the best possible 

 condition. Heavy rains sometimes wash off 

 a few eggs and destroy them, but this is only 

 a trifling aid. Late and early, in sunshine 

 and rain, he mustbe in search of the destroy- 

 er. No after process is so important as this, 

 because if his crop is badly worm-eaten, no 

 after care can make good the damage. 

 When hunted for at short intervals the worms 

 are more easily found, as they do not leave 

 the place where they begin operations for 

 several days, and may therefore be looked for 

 where they have first eaten a hole through the 

 leaf. Later they change their position fre- 

 quently and must be searched for over the 

 plant. Its habits are also of importance. In 

 hot weather it feeds chiefly in the morning 

 while it is cool, whereas in cool or cloudy 

 weather it feeds during the warmest part of 

 the day, and is therefore more readily discov- 

 ered in the ~^afternoon. Worming should be 

 done with much care. A worm or two over- 

 looked on a plant may effect its destruction 

 before you come around again. Be sure 

 therefore that your work is thorough. This 

 is the only real safe-guard. Some seasons 

 they are fai' more numerous than others, owing 

 do doubt to more favorable conditions encoun- 



