SUGAR-CANE INSECTS 333 



to insure pollinization. Clean culture. Destroy all wild black- 

 berry and raspberry vines in the vicinity. 



Root-borer {Typophorus canellus). — k whitish grub one-eighth 

 inch in length, feeding on the roots. The parent beetle is brown- 

 ish, and appears in great numbers in May. 



Treatment. — Arsenicals to kill the beetles. Plant new beds at 

 a distance from old ones. 



White Grubs. See under Corn, p. 314. 

 Sugar-cane (D. L. Van Dine). Stalk-borer {Diatrcea saccharalis) . — 

 This is the " cane-borer " of the South, and is a species of long 

 standing in the southern United States. The insects attack 

 corn and sugar-cane. The insect occurs as far south in the United 

 States as the Rio Grande valley in Texas, and as far north as 

 Maryland on the Atlantic coast. In corn-growing areas in the 

 South, it is known as " the larger corn stalk-borer." The eggs of 

 the insect are laid on the cane-leaves, and the caterpillar of the 

 moth develops within the cane-stalk. Between the months of May 

 and December, the complete development of the insect occupies 

 a period of a little over thirty daj^s, that is, a brood may be ex- 

 pected about every month. 



Treatment. — The control measures consist of the burning of the 

 trash after harvest, fall planting where possible, not to intercrop 

 cane with corn, not to plant corn or cane on windrowed areas, that 

 is, areas on which cane has been windrowed for the spring plant, 

 and to cover all seed cane well to prevent the emergence of moths 

 which may have developed from '' borers " planted in the seed cane. 



Mealy-bug (Pseudococcus calceolarice) . — Common on sugar-cane 

 in the southern parishes of Louisiana, and recorded further in the 

 United States from Florida and California. Known in Louisiana as 

 " pou-d-pouche." The insects occur in a mass about the roots 

 and beneath the lower leaf-sheaths of the cane plant, and the mass 

 is covered by a white mealy secretion. The mealy-bug hiber- 

 nates on the roots of the stubble beneath the surface of the ground 

 or on the stalks put down in windrow as seed for the spring 

 plant. Brood follows brood throughout the summer months. 

 Treatment. — Burning of trash after harvest, fall planting, and 

 the selection of seed cane from non-infested areas are the main 

 methods that may be employed in the control of this species. 



