CORN INSECTS 107 



row to make a fine dust in it. The little insects, owing to the 

 moving of the dust, have difficulty in crossing the furrow. 

 Holes bored with a post auger at intervals along the furrow 

 serve as efficient traps to catch large numbers of the insects. 

 They may be killed in these holes by burying them or by 

 pouring a small quantity of kerosene on them. Strips of tar 

 are also effective in checking their progress. A simple 

 remedy is to plant millet along the edge of the cornfield, or 

 even allow weeds to grow in a few rows next to the grain 

 field. This will retard the advance of the chinch bugs into 

 the corn. They may be killed by spraying with kerosene 

 emulsion, but this is hardly a practical method of attack. 



131. Army Worm. The army worm is a name given to 

 certain types of cutworms when they appear in large num- 

 bers and move from field to field. They usually attack 

 plants later in the season than the common cutworms, and 

 eat the upper parts of the plants rather than those just at 

 the surface of the ground. Their progress in traveling from 

 one field to another may be checked by the same methods 

 suggested in checking the chinch bug. The most effective 

 treatment for these worms is fall plowing and rotation of 

 crops, as suggested for the common cutworm. 



132. Corn Rootworms are small, white worms with brown 

 heads; the first segment is also brown. They burrow in the 

 roots of corn, and very materially check its growth. They 

 are found only in corn fields, and usually get more numerous 

 in the field year after year. A rotation of crops which will 

 provide for growing corn not to exceed two years in suc- 

 cession on the same land is the most effective remedy. 



133. Grasshoppers, well known in every community, 

 sometimes do serious injury to corn. Like chinch bugs, 

 they attack the corn, as a rule, only after the other crops 

 have been destroyed or harvested. The edges of the fields 



