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INSECT PESTS OF CIGAR-TYPE TOBACCOS 3 
ENSECTS ATTACKING TOBACCO IN THE PLANT BEDS 
Insects normally cause only shght damage to the tobacco in the 
plant beds of this region. The beds are planted early in the spring 
when some pests are still in hibernation, and when other injurious 
species, while present, have not had sufficient time to produce harmful 
infestations. The soil is treated with live steam (fig. 3) or burned 
with wood fires prior to the sowing of the seed to destroy weed seeds, 
parasitic fungi, and insects present in the topsoil. The cloth tops 
and sidewalls used on beds (figs. 4 and 5) are important factors in 
reducing infestations of budworms, cutworms, and other destructive 
insects. These coverings, which serve as protective barriers, should 
be kept intact throughout the plant-bed season as far as possible. 
When disease attacks the tobacco plants in beds, growers sometimes 
FIGURE 3.—Steaming the soil in a tobacco plant bed, prior to sowing the seed, 
for the purpose of killing weed seeds, disease organisms, and insect pests that 
may be present in the surface soil. 
remove the cloth cover to admit additional sunlight and air, believing 
that this reduces the rate of spread of the disease. Under these con- 
ditions the plants frequently become infested with eggs and small 
larvae of budworms, cutworms, and other insects. These pests may 
develop sufficiently to cause appreciable damage in the beds and also 
may be carried into the field on the young plants, where they will 
produce severe injury if not controlled immediately. 
The injurious insects that are found most frequently in the tobacco 
plant beds of this region are mole crickets, flea beetles, and cutworms. 
These may occur in sufficient numbers to require control remedies. 
Mo_eE CRICKETS 
The southern mole cricket (Scapteriscus acletus R. and H.) and 
the changa (S. vicinus Scudd.) (fig. 6) have been increasing in im- 
