NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 21 



common plants in addition to various kinds of corn and the closely 

 related sorghums, etc. Partly grown to full-grown borers have 

 been found in eastern Massachusetts in about 170 different species 

 or varieties of mostly herbaceous plants, including a considerable 

 number commonly grown in gardens, such as dahlias, rhubarb, 

 aster, beans, beets, celery and gladioli. Available evidence indicates 

 that most of the infestation of plants other than corn in eastern 

 Massachusetts is due to the work of the second brood, which 

 develops in that section but under normal conditions apparently 

 does not in the present infested areas in this State. 



The stalk infestation in the Schenectady area in 1920 varied 

 from nearly 35 per cent on some river bottom fields near the pre- 

 sumable center of the infestation to a very sparse occurrence of 

 the borer on the outer margin of the infested territory. The fields 

 showing a stalk infestation of 10 per cent or more were limited to 

 an irregular, narrowly triangular area centering approximate^ 

 upon the Scotia flats and covered some 15 square miles, the greatest 

 extension from the presumable center being 5 miles up the Mohawk 

 river and about 3 miles back from the river. Fields with a stalk 

 infestation of 5 to 10 per cent were to be found in an area 

 of approximately 25 square miles outside of the more heavily 

 infested section mentioned above and extending up the Mohawk 

 river for about 8 miles and back from the river some 5 miles. 

 These infestation records should not be construed as applying to 

 all fields in either area, because, as pointed out below, the degree 

 of infestation depends to a considerable extent upon the time of 

 planting, the nearness of infested material and the direction of pre- 

 vailing winds. 



Three types of injury were noted in New York areas. There 

 is first the damage inflicted upon various portions of the stalk, 

 sometimes very apparent in the breaking of the tassel and usually 

 indicated by borings here and there along the stalk itself. This 

 injury as a rule does not greatly affect the development of the crop, 

 unless it is carried to such an extent as to result in breaking of the 

 lower portion of the stalk either above or below the ear, the latter 

 causing the most damage. 



The breaking of corn stalks depends upon several factors, namely, 

 the amount of boring, which is closely related to the degree of 

 infestation and, second, the frequency and violence of wind storms. 

 These latter vary widely from season to season and in different 

 localities. The combined effects of boring and wind storm injury 



