GENERAL FARM METHODS AOAIXST INSECT PESTS. 25 



be killed by the weather before they again provide them- 

 selves with winter quarters. Among these are those which 

 hibernate over winter as larvs, and those which pass it in 

 the pupal stage. Among the former may be mentioned 

 the Cutworms and the Corn Stalks or Sngar-cane-borer 

 Larvae. Of those passing the winter as pnpge, the Corn 

 Ear-worm is a good example. It goes into the pupal stage 

 in the fall, and this method of breaking up the pupal cells 

 is practically the only way of combating it upon corn land. 

 But whereas some insects are destroyed by exposing 

 them on the surface, others may be literally buried alive 

 and thus killed. One of the best instances of the value of 

 fall plowing in this way is in the destruction of grass- 

 hoppers' eggs. If they be turned under to the depth of 

 five or six inches after they are laid in the fall, the young 

 hatching from them in the spring will be utterly unable 

 to regain the surface and will thus be smothered to death. 

 Other insects which pass the winter in the pupal stage, 

 but whose pup^e are encased in a tough cell not easily 

 broken open, may also be killed by being turned under in 

 this manner. In fact, even adult insects may be so 

 handled. After the plants are all thrown out of the ground 

 in Xovember the adults of the Mexican Cotton Boll- weevil 

 can be readily caught in this way and plowed under so 

 deeply that they can never regain the surface. Young 

 grasshoppers are also destroyed in a similar manner just 

 after they have emerged from the eggs in the spring. 



It is a homely, common-sense method, but with a correct 

 understanding of their life-histories it may be used to 

 good advantage against many of our most common and 

 injurious insects. 



