INSECT PESTS OF CIGAR-TYPE TOBACCOS De 
While calcium arsenate is sometimes used as a hornworm poison, 
its use in this tobacco-producing area has generally been found unsat- 
istactory. In numerous tests this arsenical proved to be rather 
ineffective as a hornworm insecticide, and under some conditions it 
caused severe burning of the tobacco foliage. 
CULTURAL CONTROL METHODS 
As no entirely satisfactory hornworm poison is available at the 
present time, full use should be made of the cultural control measures. 
All tobacco stalks should be destr oyed as soon after the harvesting 
season as possible. If the stalks are infested with maturing worms 
at this time, any foliage left on them should be dusted heavily with 
paris green. Studies on the hornworm have shown that the greatest 
abundance of this pest occurs during the latter part of the tobacco- 
growing season and that tobacco is practically the only host plant of 
importance in this area. It is therefore quite apparent that the 
destruction of larvae and their food supply at this time will appre- 
ciably reduce the infestation during the following year. 
Hornworms overwinter in the soil at an average depth of 51% 
inches while a small percentage penetrate to a somewhat greater 
depth. Hibernation is a very critical period in the seasonal history 
of this insect and only about one-fourth are able to survive under 
natural conditions. If the pupal cells are disturbed by plowing or 
other artificial means an additional mortality occurs. 
Experimental work has shown that one fall plowing of the soil 
to a depth of about 7 inches killed about one-half of the pupae which 
would otherwise have passed the winter successfully. <A still greater 
mortality would be expected to result from several cuitivations of soil 
infested with pupae. 
The benefits derived from the early destruction of tobacco stalks 
and from fall plowing are naturally greatest when practiced by an 
entire community. 
THE Tosacco FLEA BEETLE 
The flea beetle is an important tobacco pest in this region. On 
the sun-grown filler and binder crops the damage produced by this 
sect 1s usually of httle economic importance, but on shade-grown 
cigar-wrapper tobacco it 1s capable of causing heavy losses. For- 
tunately, newly developed insecticides have proved very effective in 
the control of the flea beetle in this region. With a knowledge of 
the insect’s habits and the careful application of the available control 
remedies, this insect should not be considered a menace to the crop. 
While the potato flea beetle (4 pitrix cucumeris (Harr.)) is also 
found in the plant beds and tobacco fields of this region, the infesta- 
tions consist mainly of the tobacco flea beetle (L'pitriz parvula (F.)). 
LIFE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF STAGES 
In its life cycle the tobacco flea beetle passes through four distinct 
stages, the egg, the larva, the pupa, or resting stage, and the adult 
beetle. It is only in this last stage that the flea beetle is known to 
the tobacco grower, the other three stages being rarely, if ever, seen. 
