268 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



324. The com ear-worm {Heliothis obsoleta). — The 

 description, habits and Ufa history of this insect are given 

 in paragraphs 160 to 164, on the cotton boll-worm which is 

 the same insect as the corn ear-worm. The eggs being laid 

 on the silks, "the larvae work down the silk, or bore directly 

 through the husk to the forming ear, where they feed on 

 the kernels and soon attain full growth, when they burrow 

 out through the husk and enter the ground to pupate." ^ 

 The injury is not due alone to the loss of the kernels eaten 

 but also to the fact that the burrows admit water to the 

 ear causing it to rot. No absolute remedy is known. Fall 

 and early winter plowing is recommended in that it de- 

 stroys some of the insects while in the pupa stage. , 



325. Chinch bugs (Blissus leucopterus) . — These in- 

 sects are described as "small bugs, about one-fifth inch 

 long, blackish with white wings, the young bugs reddish." 

 The adults live over winter in grass or rubbish of any kind. 

 When spring comes they fly in search of food, usually 

 congregating in fields of small-grain where the /eggs are 

 deposited. The young bugs feed and grow to maturity 

 on the small-grain. As the crop ripens the bugs go into 

 corn fields in further search of food. Here the second 

 brood of young develops. By means of their beaks the 

 bugs suck the juices from the corn plants. 



It is during the time that the chinch bugs are parsing 

 from the fields of small-grain to corn that they are most 

 easily destroyed. In making this trip the bugs do not fly, 

 but walk or crawl on the ground. If one or two deep 

 furrows are plowed around the small-grain fields, the dirt 

 being thrown toward the field in which the bugs are con- 

 gregated, an effective barrier against the insects is formed. 

 Farmers often dig holes twenty feet apart in the bottom of 

 ' N. C. Dep't of Agr., Bui. 196, p. 46. 



