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1861 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



273 



and as wtll iafoimed as Dr. Fitch; and especial- 

 ly in regard to a species of Lepidoptera whicli 

 has uever been a favorite order with me. 



I Tfill add that one individual entered the pupa 

 state on the 4th day of June, and that oa the 

 20th day of the same month the moth appeared. 



REMEDY. 



Each farmer should procure a well prepared 

 specimen of the moth and carefully preserve it. 

 Get some entomologist to identify and pre- 

 pare it. Then watch carefully each spring from 

 the middle of March to the middle of April for 

 their appearance, and whenever they appear as 

 soon as the eggs are hatched (if in a meadow, 

 pasture, etc.) plovr under the grass while the 

 worms are small. This will kill the greater por- 

 tion of them and those that succeed in extricating 

 themselves, and come to the surface, will be too 

 young and weak to travel in search of food^ and 

 must die. This ground can then be used the same 

 season for sorae other crop. Burning over the 

 grass with straw, etc., about the time the eggs 

 begin to hatch, it is said will answer the same 

 purpose, but I should prefer the other plan. — 

 When they begin to travel the only adequate rem- 

 edy, so far as ascertained, is ditching against 

 them. Let the ditch, if possible, be outside of 

 the field you wish to save. Let the side of the 

 ditch, next the field to be protected, be perpen- 

 dicular, or if it even leans over a little it will 

 not hurt ; it should be at least six inches deep, 

 from eight to ten will be better. The bottom 

 should be eight or ten inches wide ; and along 

 it, at every twelve or fifteen feet (distance vary- 

 ing according to the number of worms), square 

 holes as the bottom of the ditch and near a foot 

 deep should be dug. If the worms are so exceed- 

 ingly numerous as to fill up the holes and ditch 

 rapidly, straw, leaves or shavings scattered over 

 them and fired will kill them ; and then they can 

 be thrown out with a spade or shovel. By dig™ 

 ging the ditch out?ide the field you have a chance, 

 if it should fail from any cause to keep back the 

 worms, to dig another and better one on the in- 

 side, without advancing into the field to the in- 

 jury of the crop. When they appear in a mea- 

 dow or grass pasture in but moderate numbers it 

 may be saved by turning in hogs which greedily 

 devour them, and they do the hogs no injury. — 

 And I may add here that the idea entertained by 

 many that chickens that eat them are thereby 

 rendered unwholesome, is an error, they do the 

 chickens no injury, so far as wholesomeness is 



concerned. The idea suggested by the editor, to 

 9 



drag a rope across wheat, thus causing the worms 

 to drop, is probably a very good one. But I am 

 inclined to the opinion the worms, although they 

 will climb up no more that day, will be apt to be 

 found on it the next. Yet I may be wrong in 

 this, and if not, a few days sweeping would ia 

 all probability drive them ofi", and if it done no 

 injury to the heads would certain'y prove bene- 

 ficial to the crop. I find that after the wheat has 

 been threshed ou^, where the worms were numer- 

 ous, and stripped the blades pretty clean, the ef- 

 fect of their attack becomes apparent in the di- 

 minutive yield. And this is more evident where 

 the soil was not strong and deep ; many fields 

 that should have produced fifteen bushels, yield- 

 ing only six, eight or ten, or even less. 



Heretofore, in more than one instance, when. 

 the "Army worm " appeared, the Rice Bunting. 

 {Doliconyx oryzivora) also made its appearance io. 

 considerable numbers, and assisted greatly ia 

 destroying the worms. This was the case th» 

 last time the worm appeared here — some five or- 

 six years ago — but this season I have seen non& 

 about. The worms are attacked by some para- 

 sites belonging to the order Hymenaptera, and 

 family Ichneumonidae. I have some specimens in 

 the pupae state, they are enc'osed in a cocoon- 

 shaped pupa case divided into rings, are aboui- 

 one-fourtb of an inch long and half as broad, 

 very dark walnut color. I will also add — in aa- 

 swer to an inquiry made by Dr. Walsh — that 

 some of the larvae (of the army worms) have ott 

 some of the anterior segments, glassy eye-like- 

 slightly elevated tuberculous spots, one on each 

 side ; seldom are more than one segment on tha- 

 same individual, saw them on two in one cas©! 

 only. 



I must c^ose this loosely written article with atk 

 apology to you, Mr. Editor, and the readers of 

 the Illinois Farmer. I commenced my investi- 

 gations as soon as the worms appeared, intending 

 to make them as thorough as possible, but about 

 the latter part of June I was taken down with » 

 severe attack of sicknesa, and have been able to 

 make no further observations. Yet I deemed it a 

 duty to lay before our farmers what I have ascer- 

 tained, although it is farJ|im being so complete 

 as I desired. ^9^ ^' Thomas. 



The above is probably the most complete de- 

 scription of the "Army worm" yet published. 

 Mr. Thomas has laid both science and the farm- 

 ers under obligation to him for his labors in this 

 regard, and that too when laboring under a se- 

 vere attack of fever. Elaborate drawings of this 



