GENERAL INFORMATION. 259 



underground and not far below the surface, it is suggested that where tobacco-beds are not burned the soil be 

 prepared early, thoroughly pulverized, and copiously drenched with scalding water three or four times in as many 

 days before the seed is sown. 



From all parts of the United States come reports that the flea-beetle is the most persistent and most dreaded 

 enemy of the young tobacco plants. Several species of these insects are well known to every farmer and gardener 

 from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The cabbage flea (Haltica striolata) is found in North Carolina and Tennessee 

 in the latter part of March or early in April, sometimes in immense numbers, in the newly-planted cotton -fields, 

 feeding upon the seed-leaves of the young plants. Dr. Eathoon, of Pennsylvania, describes two species of the genus 

 Epitriv, family Halticidai, as follows: The Epltrix cucumeris is black all over, except the antennae and the feet. The 

 thorax is thickly punctured, and the wing covers conspicuously striated and punctured between the striae. The Epitrix 

 pubesccnti is slightly more oblong, and not quite so convexed as the former, but otherwise is about the same size. 

 The whole of the body beneath is of a dull-black color, including also the posterior thighs. The feet, the antennae 

 (which are slightly serrated along the anterior margin), and the whole of the dorsal or upper part of the body, are 

 of a honey-yellow color, except about a third of the middle portion of the wing covers, which is a dusky black. The 

 thorax is of a much brighter color than the other upper portions of the body, and the eyes are very black, their 

 composite character being more distinct than in the first-named species ; and except the thorax, the upper and 

 lower part of the whole body is pubescent. This pubescence is conspicuous in rows between the striae of the wing 

 covers and along the margins of the abdominal segments. This&pecies is the most troublesome to the young cotton 

 and cabbage plants of the middle southern states. They also attack the seed-leaves of beans and other leguminous 

 plants, but appear to have an especial fondness for tobacco. These insects are about one-sixteenth to one-tenth of 

 an inch in length. 



The above-named and other species of the Halticans feed on a variety of plants. The sweet potato, cabbage, 

 beet, turnip, radish, horseradish, common nettle, aud the Jamestown weed are all infested by one or the other 

 and often by the same species of this omnivorous family. When disturbed, the flea-beetles leap off the plants 

 and hide themselves quickly in the dry soil or under small clods. Various solutions, poisonous or simply distasteful 

 to these insects, have been used with successful results. Ashes, slaked liine,and soot, dusted upon melon, cucumber, 

 potato, and turnip plants, and applied in the morning, when the dew is on the plants and while the beetles are 

 sluggish, are effectual in most instances. Of various plans to keep them from tobacco-beds probably the only 

 certain protection is to cover the seed-bed with cloth, as suggested heretofore. 



Transplanted into the field, the tobacco plant is exposed to the attacks of other insects. The greasy cut- worm 

 usually cuts off the plant just beneath the surface of the soil without cutting the top at all. When these worms are 

 disturbed, they immediately coil themselves into a ring. They do not like the sunlight, and during the day 

 bury themselves in the lower soil in the vicinity of the plant. When grown, they are from 1J to 1J inches long. 

 They bury themselves beneath the soil to pupate. The pupa is three-fourths of an inch in length, of a shining or glossy 

 light-brown color, and the anterior margin of the segments is dark brown. The anal segment is armed with two very 

 small spines or points, by the assistance of which it pushes itself toward the surface about the time the moth is 

 evolved. This moth is commonly called the Lance Rustic, from the dark-brown, lance-shaped spots on the anterior 

 wings, which are a light brown in color. The hind wings are lustrous and whitish in color, with a grayish margin. 

 The antennae of the females are fllamental or thread-like; but in the male, along the inner margin near the base, 

 they are more or less pectinated. The body of the largest specimens is three-fourths of an inch in length, and the 

 wings expand If inches from tip to tip. Cut- worms are largely preyed upon by hymenopterous and other parasites, 

 aud there is no better or safer remedy than hand-picking while they are yet in the larval state, discriminating in 

 favor of the parasites when seen and known. Toads, lizards, snakes, aud moles are all very useful in keeping these 

 worms in check, and should be protected, excepting, of course, poisonous snakes. The cut- worms, in various stages of 

 development, may be found in the earth during the entire winter, too torpid to feed until the return of warm weather. 

 This accounts for their appearance and their advanced physical condition so early in the season. When cut-worms 

 exist in large numbers, as in grass or clover sod or in fields not cleanly cultivated, fall or winter plowings, to expose 

 as much as possible the upper soil to the severe freezings of midwinter, are absolutely necessary to secure a 

 good stand of tobacco; but no matter how hard the frosts, nor how often the ground is plowed, some of the worms 

 will survive, making daily inspection of the newly-planted field indispensable for an even stand of plants. 



Wire-worms do not attack the leaf, but bore into the stems of the plants at the surface of the ground and 

 work their way upward. After the tobacco gets a fair start in growth nothing is seen of these worms for the 

 remainder of tlie season. They are the larvae of "click-beetles", or "hammer-bugs" (Elateridce). These worms are 

 sometimes very numerous. In April and early in May, sometimes as late as the first of June, some of these species 

 are very destructive in the corn-fields, especially upon lauds which have been lying out for some years; but 

 they are rarely troublesome iu well-cultivated fields. 



In Ohio, Pennsylvania, and perhaps farther northward, the Hellothis armiyera (the southern boll-worm, or 

 corn-worm) is sometimes found feeding upon the seed-leaves of young tobacco plants, but south of 35 these worms 

 are rarely known to attack tobacco plants, since they find more appropriate food in abundance. 



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