. 



-• 



BE SERIOUS THREAT TO 1945 CROPS 



Weather Conditions Have Favored Pest Infestation — Practices for Combating diinch 

 Bugs, Grasshoppers, Codling Moths, Com Borers, Rootworms and Grubs are Outlined 



CHINCH BUGS — Possible out- 

 break equal to that of 

 1934. Weather determin- 

 ing factor. 



CORN BORER — Population in- 

 creased in 1944. Cannot 

 predict for 1 945. 



CODLING MOTH — Attained 

 an all-time high in 1944. 

 Larvae now present threat 

 to 1945 fruit crop. 



WHITE GRUB — ^The year 1945 

 will be white grub year. 



CORN ROOTWORM — Unusu- 

 ally abundant in 1944. 

 Unwise to plant corn in 

 fields that have been 

 planted to corn for two 

 or more years. 



western Illinois have the highest over- 

 wintering borer populations, and dam- 

 age is more likely to be severe in that 

 part of the state than in any other. 

 Weather conditions over the past two 

 years have permitted reasonably early 

 plantings in this area; hence the heavy 

 build-up of borers. • . . ,: 



Good, clean plowing, which can 

 be accomplished by the use of coul- 

 ters, jointers, and wires, destroys 

 from 98 to S>9 f)€r cent of the bor- 

 ers present in the crop refuse of 

 a com field. Also fields planted 

 during the latter half of May will 

 produce as much or irtore corn and 

 suffer less corn borer damage than 

 fields planted very early in the 

 month. 



"We know," Decker says, "that dif- 

 ferent hybrids and different varieties 

 of corn respond differently to corn 

 borer attack, but for the present we 

 can only say that vigorous, strong- 

 stalked varieties that have proven to 

 be well adapted to an individual soil 

 type or climatic condition will in all 

 probability prove most successful un- 

 der corn borer attack." 



Codling Moth 

 The codling moth population at- 

 tained an all-time high in the fruit 

 growing section of Illinois in the past 

 year and in some orchards 

 that were sprayed eight or 

 ten times, more than half 

 of the crop was wormy. 



Orchardists in the 

 southern half of the state 

 may well expect severe 

 damage from codling 

 moth this coming year if 

 they have neglected sani- 

 tary measures in the past few years. The 

 Mississippi and Illinois valley regions 

 south of Havana and Keokuk and that 

 area of Illinois south of St. Louis are 

 the most heavily infested. Orchards in 

 the region bounded by a line running 

 from Springfield to Greenville to Law- 

 renceville and north to Danville are 

 still in the codling moth area but the 

 infestation is somewhat lighter. 



If the 1945 season should be favor- 

 able to the development of the codling 

 moth, it is doubtful if any spray 

 schedule will be capable of controlling 

 the pest this year. Decker says. "We 

 therefore recommend the adoption of 

 sanitary practices as a supplement to a 

 good spray program. All trees should 

 be thoroughly scraped and prepared 

 for summer banding and other desir- 

 able sanitation measures should be 

 adopted." 



White Grubs 



Decker says that 1945 will be a 

 white grub year, and we may there- 

 fore reasonably expect serious grub 

 damage in many pastures and meadows 

 and also on corn and other crops which 

 may be planted on recently plowed 

 grass sod. 



Corn Rootworm 



Corn rootworms were unusually 

 abundant in 1944 and it would there- 

 fore seem unwise to plant corn in 

 fields that have been planted to corn 

 for two or more years, particularly in 

 areas where rootworm caused damage 

 last year. Decker says. 



The grape colaspis and the sweet 

 clover weevil, two insects which were 

 causing some concern in the late '305 

 and early '40s have been decreasing in 

 abundance for the past three years. 

 Decker reports. On the basis of this 

 trend, he said, 'we hesitantly venture 

 the unsafe assumption that they will 

 not appear as very serious pests in 

 1945." 



As Farmers Forward Go 



(Continued from page 6) 



and their mark of 179 Rives them a sr"t 

 high on the honor roll. In this county, the 

 old men trimmed their juniors by two con- 

 tracts. 



Montj?omer>' count>''s final score hadn't 



reached the office at this writing (March 2^) 

 but with 90 contracts in their hands at the 

 Hillsboro office before the report meeting, 

 they confidently predicted that they will pass 

 the no mark. 



With a relatively small county in area. 

 Ford's scored 9i new members in their 

 drive, reports COD Fred Tieken. 



Mark Cooper, Vermilion COD, sent in a 



laconic postcard announcing that his work- 

 ers had joined the exclusive "over 200"' 

 club by signing 212. They held a North 

 versus South contest captained for the North 

 by John T, Evans and H. Eugene Andrews, 

 and for the South by James Hart and H. A. 

 Linville. The Danville Commercial News 

 gave the drive a prominent headline and 

 printed the entire list of names of new 

 members. 



Ogle county signed 67 on their recent 



drive, and promise still further efforts, says 

 Vern Hohnadel, COD. 



Randolph is in the "100 club" as a result 

 of 103 new members signed in their drive, 

 and COD Verne Campbell and his cohorts 

 are plenty pleased. 



A sterling achievement is reported by H. 

 F. Wiesenborn, COD of Pulaski-Alexander 

 county Farm Bureau, for down there they 

 had a one-day drive and came in with 76 

 contracts. In so doing they exceeded their 

 long-range goal. 



Bcxme county put on a good drive in 



February, and brought in a total of 75 new 

 members. They expect to pass the 900 

 mark in membership by their annual meet- 

 ing. 



APRIL, 1945 



