REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1920-21 33 



an unrestricted increase of the pest. It may be added in this con- 

 nection that there was greater injury over larger areas in Canada in 

 192 1, the damage being greatest in early planted corn, and while 

 there was somewhat of an increase of the pest in the New York 

 areas, it was by no means proportional. 



Prior to the discovery of this insect in Canada, an attempt was 

 made by the Entomologist and other interested persons to secure 

 the cooperation of the Federal Government in a comprehensive 

 campaign to clean up and if possible exterminate the insect in at 

 least a portion of the sparsely infested New York area. An effort 

 of this kind would have demonstrated possibilities and would at the 

 same time have assisted very materially in checking the westward 

 spread of the pest. This attempt failed on account of various con- 

 ditions and as the borer had not caused serious losses to corn in New 

 York State, it was deemed inadvisable to request large appropriations 

 from the Legislature for the purpose of continuing the policy of 1919. 



The European corn borer is of such general importance and its 

 habits in New York State are so different from those in Massachusetts 

 that application was made to the Legislature for a special appro- 

 priation for the investigation of the status of this insect and $5000 

 was made available for the purpose. The money has been used in 

 a careful field study of the pest to ascertain the rapidity of spread, 

 the amount of injury and the possibilities of control or repressive 

 measures. The work was placed in charge of D. B. Young, who was 

 temporarily detailed from the Entomologist's office, Mr Hall B. 

 Carpenter of Somerville, Mass., was engaged as a special assistant 

 for this work and an intensive study of the Schenectady area was 

 made. The results are given in considerable detail in the body of 

 the Entomologist's report. These studies sustain the opinions 

 formulated in 1919 and demonstrate a considerable difference in 

 habits of the corn borer in New York State as compared with the 

 infested areas of Massachusetts. There is, for example, but one 

 generation normally with a consequent limitation upon probable 

 injury. The insect appears to be confined in New York State 

 almost exclusively to corn, a condition very different from that 

 obtaining in eastern Massachusetts, where it breeds freely in several 

 plants and is found in numbers in many others. These variations 

 are of much practical importance, because of their bearing upon 

 quarantine restrictions and other methods designed to prevent 

 further spread. Conclusive data were also secured as to the efficacy 

 of thoroughly plowing under infested corn stalks, a matter of much 



