42 



MEANS OP CONTROLLING INSECTS 



The means which the individual may use in 

 endeavoring to control his insect enemies are 

 many and varied. They may be classed as me- 

 chanical methods, farm practices and the applica- 

 tion of mate- 

 rials commonly 

 called insecti- 

 cides. 



Mechanical 

 methods. 



It is often 

 practicable to 

 hand - pick or 

 dig out insect 

 pests. This is 

 largely prac- 

 ticed in coun- 

 tries where 

 cheap labor is 

 available. No 

 cheaper and ef- 

 fective method 

 has yet been 

 found for com- 

 bating borers 

 and many pests 

 (a s cutworms 

 and white grubs) working in gardens and on other 

 small areas. Children have done very effective work 

 in collecting eggs of tent-caterpillars and tussock- 

 moths on shade trees. A box-like covering of wire- 

 screen or mosquito - netting is often placed over 

 hills of squashes, melons and cucumbers to protect 

 them from the ravages of the striped beetle- and 

 stink-bug. Seed-beds of cabbages, radish beds and 

 various choice or rare plants can be thus protected 

 from insects at slight expense. Bushels of young 

 grasshoppers and swarms of small leaf-hoppers are 

 often collected on the western prairies by drawing 

 large iron pans smeared with tar or containing ker- 

 osene, and called " hopper-dozers." (Fig. 59.) Thous- 

 ands of grape leaf-hoppers can be collected on 

 sticky shields held near while the vines are jarred. 



Fig. 61. Canker- woim moths stopped by 

 sticky band in their progress up a tree. 



Fig. 62. Ridge formed by Marcy implement for protection against 

 chinch-bugs. Post-holes are dug beside the ridge about fifty feet 

 apart. This barrier is smooth and compact, and very little affected 

 by the rain. The line of coal-tar along the top has been successful 

 in all weather conditions, (Kansas Experiment Station Report, 

 1896-97,) 



(Fig. 60.) Sticky bands have long been used effec- 

 tively to prevent the wingless female moths of 

 canker-worms ascending trees to lay their eggs. 

 (Pig. 61.) For a quarter of a century before 

 the advent of spraying, the principal means em- 

 ployed to reduce the numbers of the codling-moth 

 were various kinds of cloth or hay -rope bands 

 around the trunks of the trees to form more attrac- 

 tive places for the caterpillars to transform. Large 

 numbers of the caterpillars gather under these 

 bands, where they are easily killed. This effective 

 banding method can now be used with profit to 

 supplement the poison spray when a second brood 

 of the insect occurs. Farmers often use the barrier 

 method to prevent chinch-bugs, cutworms or army- 

 worms from 

 marching into 

 other fields. 

 Two furrows 

 plowed to- 

 gether and a 

 narrow strip 

 f coal - tar 

 poured along 

 the ridge thus 

 formed, effec- 

 tively stop 

 chinch - bugs. 

 (Fig. 62.) To 

 stop army- 

 worms a deep 

 furrow is 

 plowed with 

 the perpendic- 

 ular side to- 

 ward the field 

 to be protected, and post-holes are then dug in the 

 furrow at intervals of a rod or less. The caterpil- 

 lars can not readily scale the furrow and so wan- 

 der along it, finally dropping into the holes, where 

 they can be killed with kerosene or crushed ; 

 bushels of the worms are often killed by this bar- 

 rier method. Some insects may be jarred on 

 sheets or into catchers. (Pigs. 63, 64.) 



Farm practices. 



The American farmer who grows field 

 crops mostly, must depend largely on im- 

 proved or different methods in growing his 

 crops, or on what may be called farm prac- 

 tices, to prevent and control the ravages of 

 insect pests. Often the horticulturist or 

 gardener can also use these methods to good 

 advantage. 



Thorough and frequent cultivation, especi- 

 ally in early autumn, discourages and finally 

 effectively controls wireworms and white 

 grubs more than anything yet devised. One 

 rarely sees a well-cultivated orchard seriously 

 infested with canker-worms, as many of the 

 pupae in the soil are thus destroyed. A fre- 

 quent rotation of the crops is one of the 

 most effective methods of controlling insects 

 which attack field crops, as com, clover, 

 wheat, potatoes and similar crops. The in- 



Fig. 63. An early type of beetle-catcher 

 for vineyards, but now little used. 



