THE SUGAR-CANE MOTH BORER. 47 



consisting of a locomotive pulling a tank car filled with gasoline 

 and a flat car bearing two huge gasoline burners, which produced 

 flames 5 or 6 feet high. The lower parts of the flames were about 

 10 feet above the ground. The plantation management makes a 

 practice of operating the train on favorable nights during the sum- 

 mer, and the expense in 1916 was said to be about $7 per night. On 

 the night of August 25 the senior author saw both machines in opera- 

 tion and caught a total of 21 borer moths, of which 5 were males 

 and 17 were gravid females. The moths would fly near the flame, 

 their wings would be singed, and they would drop to the ground, 

 or, in the case of the suction or vacuum outfit, they would be drawn 

 with great force into the inner chamber. The fact that these ma- 

 chines were drawn through the midst of the cane fields may account 

 for the variance of the results with those obtained with the light 

 traps. As the lights were moved from one spot to another, group 

 after group of insects was observed to rise. As soon as the insects 

 had either settled or been captured or burned at one point the ma- 

 chines were moved a few yards farther on and a new group would 

 start up. 



It was expected that this plantation would have a low infestation 

 in the fall. Fields were examined near which the lights had been 

 operated and compared with other fields which had not been reached 

 by them. The average infestation of canes was 96.7 per cent for 

 the treated fields, while it was 97.3 per cent for the untreated fields, 

 a difference of less than 1 per cent. The average infestation of all 

 the fields examined as compared with the average infestation of 

 other plantations in that part of the State not using the lights was 

 higher rather than lower. 



Even with the high percentage of females taken at the plantation 

 lights it is apparent that with regard to percentage of canes infested 

 the lights have no effect on the moth borer. 



FALL PLANTING. 



Windrowing seed cane for spring planting is a practice which 

 affords the borer an ideal place to spend the winter. The insects can 

 crawl from one stalk of cane to another in the windrow, killing many 

 eyes which otherwise would germinate. The covering of earth and 

 leaves protects the borer as well as the cane from the severities of 

 winter. 



Planting the cane in the fall instead of in the spring does away 

 with the necessity for a windrow altogether, and is to be preferred. 

 This is one of the recommendations of Stubbs and Morgan (152). 

 Fall planting is practiced as far as labor and time will permit on 

 most Louisiana plantations. 



