302 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



July 



cabbages, young corn, and beans. They are 

 hatched and grow to a length of from three- 

 eighths to three-fourths of an inch by autumn, 

 yet, feeding cliiefly on grass and small weeds, 

 their injuries are then too trifling to be noticed. 

 But from the 20th of May, to the 10th of July, 

 of the following year, just when the crops of 

 the field and garden are in their infancy and 

 tender age, the mischief perpetrated by these 

 larvffi is often very serious. We are told that 

 the perfected insects or moths from these 

 caterpillars, are those ashen colored, nocturnal 

 millers, so called, that make such Quixotic at- 

 tacks on the lamps and candles during summer 

 evenings. 



There is another naked ground caterpillar, 

 that, perhaps from the want of more thorough 

 examination, I have not yet identified with any 

 of the descriptions of entomologists. It is 

 somewhat thicker and longer than the brown 

 cut woi'm, of a shining and slightly translucent 

 appearance, of a smoky color, shaded with 

 brown and green, and has a copper colored 

 head. Unlike the brown cut worm, he cuts 

 the young corn below the surface of the ground, 

 and just above the lateral roots. He matures 

 as a larvje, in July, a little later than the brown 

 worm. Life and health being granted, I in- 

 tend to procure some moths from these copper- 

 heads next summer, and send them to head- 

 quarters for trial and a name. Their ravages 

 are mostly noticed in the corn-field, and ai'e 

 more fatal to the corn than those of the brown 

 ■worm. 



And now, behold, our fields and gardens 

 are occupied by an army of amputators, with 

 instruments in hand, whose sole employment 

 and pleasure is to lay waste and destroy ; and 

 nothing prevents the completing of the de- 

 struction which they yearly initiate, except the 

 want of numbers. And it is certainly perti- 

 nent to inquire for what purpose they are com- 

 missioned and sent among us. Certainly not 

 to utterly destroy the vegetation on which they 

 subsist ; for in that case they must themselves 

 perish. And certainly, not to prevent, as a 

 general rule, the maturing of ample crops in 

 field and garden ; for if so, they have I'ailed 

 in their mission. It seems probable that their 

 normal condition, as to numbers, is just suffi- 

 cient to cut oflF and suppress only the redun- 

 dancy of plants. But when they proceed to 

 amputate whole fields of corn, cabbage, and 

 beans, we have a right to presume that they 

 have gone beyond their instructions and should 

 be punished. 



When we consider the extraordinary fecun- 

 dity of this class of animals, — each female 

 moth laying from two hundred to five hundred 

 eggs, it is more wonderful that they are kept 

 so near their normal numl)er, than that they 

 occasionally greatly exceed it. Taking the 

 lowest luunber of eggs, — two hundred to ea(;h 

 pair of moths, — to keep the numl)cr uniform, 

 from year to year, ninety-nine out of each one 

 bundled must fail to produce a perfect insect, 



and one only must succeed. The agencies 

 commissioned to suppress the ninety-nine have 

 never yet exceeded their instructions to the 

 amount of one ninety-ninth part of the work 

 assigned them ; and do not often fall short of 

 fulfilling the same to an equal degree of accu- 

 racy. This is more than can be said of some 

 of our modern generals. 



I. B. Hartwfll. 

 Wilkinsonville, Mass., 1867. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NOXIOUS ANIMALS, INCLUDING IN- 

 SECTS.— NO. V. 

 Cut ■Worms. 



Perhaps if we could get some glimpses of 

 the probable utility of these Agrotidians un- 

 der consideration, we might be more willing 

 to endure them under proper limits. 



In natui-e's plan there is no less redundancy 

 of young plants than of young animals ; for 

 nature sows liberally, and so should the farmer 

 — expecting that the redundancies will be sup- 

 pressed. Our insect assists in this work, and 

 at the same time furnishes from his own re- 

 dundance, subsistencefor other animals. Also 

 he mines the soil twice a year — first to hiber- 

 nate, and secondly to pass through his trans- 

 formations ; thus promoting aeration of the 

 soil, and finally adding to its fertility by con- 

 tributing his remains. 



The agencies by which these insects are kept 

 in check are numerous, and many of them un- 

 known as yet. The most obvious are the birds 

 and toads. The red wing blackbird and cog- 

 nate species, several varieties of sparrows, 

 though accounted granivorous, and the thrush- 

 es generally, forage on the ground, and de- 

 vour, with other larva;, many cut worms. 

 Many of these birds seem to hunt rather leis- 

 urely and carelessly, seldom stopping to listen 

 for their prejs or to dig into their subterranean 

 retreats. But the common robin is a model 

 hunter. From early dawn to evening twilight 

 he is on the cultivated fields and gardens of 

 his friends, (for he knows and shuns the place 

 where the boys shoot robins and steal their 

 eggs,) hunting for worms, as soon in the sea- 

 son and as late as cut-worms can be found. 

 In hunting, he moves forward a few paces at 

 a brisk hop, and then stops a few seconds to 

 look and to listen ; and such is the acuteness 

 of his hearing, that if a worm moves in the 

 ground near him, it is soon dispatched. Both 

 male and female robins engage in this work, 

 ]\Irs. Rol)in being the most industrious. Sev- 

 eral pairs are sometimes seen on the same 

 field, each taking a diiferent portion of the 

 hunting ground. Our robins, from kind treat- 

 ment, have become quite tame, approaching 

 so ni'ar lliat when hoeing in the field, I have 

 repeatfdiy and distinctly witnessed all that is 

 lu're affirmed in reference to their habits. 

 The}' have one weakness, — the like of which is 

 incident to the parental affection in some of 



