116 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:3— Mar., 1920 



Since this insect passes the winter usually as a pupa within a 

 light, silken cocoon, clean culture is most useful in holding the pest 

 in check. The old leaves, stumps, and heads lying in the fields 

 may harbor the overwintering pupae in their cocoons. Therefore 

 all refuse in gardens and fields should be gathered in the fall and 

 burned or otherwise destroyed. This is an important practice 

 also in the case of other garden pests. 



In addition the poison mixture of soap and arsenate of lead 

 recommended for the imported cabbage worm is useful in case of 

 the cabbage looper. The spraying should be done using great care 

 to cover all parts of the plant. 



Cut Worms: The cut worms are thieves that usually work in 

 the night and there are several species which cut down our young 

 cabbage plants. 



Cutworms are sleek, robust caterpillars from one to two inches 

 long. They are yellowish, greenish, dirt-colored, or grayish and 

 sometimes striped or variously marked with dull dark or brown 

 areas. They hide beneath some object on the ground or crawl 

 just below the surface of the soil during the day, coming out at 

 night to do their feeding. They cut off the stems of the small 

 cabbage plants and one cutworm may, during the night, destroy 

 several plants in this way. When grown, the cutworms change to 

 pupae in the soil and the pupae eventually transform to dark-gray 

 or brownish moths which lay eggs for a new generation. 



Clean cultivation by burning all refuse and ploughing deeply 

 in the fall is of advantage. Eggs laid on leaves of weeds will be 

 destroyed and many of the half -grown cutworms will be killed by 

 deep ploughing. 



Poison bait made of bran io pounds, paris green i pound, 

 and molasses i or 2 quarts, is very effective. Enough water should 

 be added to moisten the bran so that the particles will adhere to 

 each other and yet not so much as to make a soft mash that will 

 not crumble. A handful of this mash should be placed around each 

 plant or it may be scattered thinly between the rows. 



The following bait has also proved very effective: Shorts 50 

 pounds, molasses one gallon, Paris green one pound, and water 

 one and one-half gallons. The shorts do not dry out as quickly 

 as bran. 



