216 COBN CROPS 



and pupate during May and June. The larvae feed prin- 

 cipally during the night, cutting the young plants off near 

 the ground. Late fall plowing usually destroys many of 

 the larvae. Late planting will often avoid them, and 

 when the regular planting is destroyed it is usually safe 

 to depend on a late replanting to escape. Cutworms are 

 poisoned by mixing one pound of paris green to forty 

 pounds of bran. When applied with a drill the mass is 

 moistened and dried, so as to cause the poison to adhere. 

 When applied by hand, a quart of molasses is added to the 

 mixture. 



Grubworms 



These are larvae of the May beetles, or June bugs. 

 The eggs are laid in June, mostly in grasslands, but more 

 or less in all cultivated fields, especially if recently dressed 

 with barnyard manure. The larvae live on decaying 

 vegetable matter or roots, and often prove very destruc- 

 tive in cornfields. 



No effective remedy has been proposed except in regions 

 where listing is practiced. Listed corn is not injured so 

 much as is surface-planted corn. 



Wireworms 



These are the larvae of the family known as " click 

 beetles." The eggs are laid in the spring, in soil on grass- 

 land. The larvae usually live two years in the soil; then 

 pupate in July and August, and are finally transformed 

 into beetles in about four weeks. The larvae both eat 

 and bore the stems and roots of plants. No success- 

 ful remedy has been proposed. When damage is expectedj 

 the corn may be planted more thickly, depending on thin- 

 ning where the wireworms do not reduce the stand. When 



