WP 



THE CULTIVATOR. 



APuiii 



dny, till the whole is devoured, or only pieces of the 

 willed lenvea remiiin, plupginjc up the entrimce of the 

 hole. Either the Striped or the Lined cut-worm fre- 

 quently treats corn in this same way. Honco the stump 

 may often be found without auy willed leaves lying 

 near it. 



There are doubtless other species of cut-worms which 

 have not yet presented themselves to my notice, my 

 invc^tigationR of those insects being fts yot far from 

 complete. My young cnoumbors being aUvnys enclosed 

 in boxes open at the bottom and top, are never molested 

 by cut-worm.-j, and seldom by other insects; hence I 

 know not the worm which depredates on them. 



As already stated, the particular species of moth or 

 miller into which either of our American cut-worms 

 changes, has never been ascertained. Most of the 

 speciof!, however, pertain to the genua Agrolis, of the 

 family NoctuidjE, or Owlet-moths. In Englnnd the 

 insects of this genus are nnmed "Dart moth?," from a 

 peculiar spot or streak which many of them have near 

 the base of their fore wings, resembling the point of a 

 dart or spear. Much the most common species of this 

 genus in the state of New-York, can be nothing else 

 than the Oothjc Dart (A^rotis subgothica) of the Bri- 

 tish entomologists. This was first described by Mr. 

 Jlaworth in the ye.ir 1810, and is current in all the books 

 as a British insect. Mr. Stephens, however, says it is 

 ▼ery rare, only throe or four specimens having been 

 found in England. I doubt not it is an American insect, 

 the eggs or larva) of which hiive accidentally been car- 

 ried to England, probably in the oarth in which plants 

 have boon transported thither. Ilere.it is one of the most 

 common of those moths which come in at the open win- 

 dows of our houses in warm summer evening)^, attracted 

 by the lights of the candles. I have thus taken more 

 than a dozen specimens in an hour. It begins to ap- 

 pear early in July and continues till September, and 

 in Illinois I met with it on one of the last days of this 

 month. Its wings when spread monsure from over an 

 inch and a quarter to an inch and a hiilf across. It is 

 of a grayish-brown color, and the four wings have a 

 broad whitish stripe on tho outer margin from the base 

 to beyond the middle, and another branching from this 

 and running through tho centre of the wing. Between 

 these whitish stripes is a pale triangulnr spot having 

 its outer side wholly c(mfluent with the outer stripe, 

 and buck of this is ti second pule spot which is kidney- 

 shnped, the apiico before, between tmd behind those 

 spots being black or dark brown. And extending from 

 the b.ise of the wing along the inner sido of tho inner 

 stripe is a broad black or dark brown streak (represent- 

 ing the dart head above alluded to,) which streak is 

 crossed by two slender jyle lines, the.^e lines not par- 

 allel with each other. This last murk with the two 

 pale tines across it, will alone distinguish this from all 

 our other moths. 



Our next most common speoies is the Devastating 

 Dart {Agrotis devastator,) thus named hy Mr. Brace 

 in the year 1819, in a short article upon tho cut-worm, 

 pujdiijhedin ihe first volume of Silli man's Journal, page 

 1.57. And it appears to he this same species, which 

 has recently been figured and named Agrotis Mar- 

 shallana by Mr. Westwon.), frf.m a single speoimon 

 found in England by T. Marshall, Esq.j (Iluuiphrev's 

 British Moths, vol. i, p, 1*22.) n this species the 

 wings when spread jjro from an inch and a half to over 

 an inch and three-fourths across. The fore wing« are 

 grayi.>^h brown, and are crossed by four equidistant wa- 

 vy whilish lines, which are edged more or less with 

 blackish. But commonly only the last one or two of 

 these lines can bo perceived ; and the last lino ha^ a 

 row of blackish triangular spoto, like arrow hoad^, 

 alone its anterior side, their points directed towards 

 the &ase of the wing. Often these spnip are so oblite- 

 rated that only one or two of the middle onps oan bo 

 discerned in a particular reflection of the light. But 

 it is by Tlto<o vpots more than any other character that 

 1 discriminare specimens of this species ; for it is va- 

 riable, with its marks obscure and oioro or loss oblito- 



rated, from its wings when flying having been fluttered 

 and rubbed against grass, leaver, &c., as is apt to bo 

 the cai-e with most of the insects of this order. 



Although more than a dozen other species of Dart- 

 moths are known to me, the two now described will 

 suffice as examples of the insects whose eggs produce 

 the cut-worms. Though so common, they are seldom 

 seen in tho day-time, being then at re^t, secreted in 

 dark situation.'*, such as tho crevice.H in stone walls and 

 the orneks under the clapboards of buildings. By 

 looking behind the window-shutters of my office, at any 

 -tiino in July or Augu!«t, I am able to obtain apecimens 

 of the Devastating Dart and one or two other less 

 common species. 



As to the best modes for subduing the cut-worm and 

 guarding against its ravages, onfy a few words will be 

 necessary, as this topic has been so often discussed in 

 our agricultural journals. Commonly only ono or two 

 stalks in a hill of corn or beans are cut off", and the 

 remainder is left unmolested, the worms appearing to 

 require but ono or two meals of this kind, just as they 

 are on the point of changing to pupre. It in well, 

 therefore, to plant so much seed as will enable these 

 depredators to glut their appetites without taking all 

 tho stalks in the bill. Observation has long pointed 

 to this as a precaution which should always be taken. 

 Hence tho old rulo as to the number of kernels which 

 should be planted in each bill of corn — 



" One for llie black-bird and one for ilie crow. 

 Two lor ilie cul-worm and tliree to grow.^' 



But occasionally these worms are bo numerous that 

 active exertions must be put forth to save the crop.s 

 from destruction. And general experience shows wc 

 have as yet only one resort which is fierfectly certain 

 and reliable, to wit, digging the worms out from their 

 retreats and destroying them. To go over a large corn- 

 field carefully, on this errand, and promptly as the 

 exigency of the case demands, is quite a formidable 

 task. Still, every one will perceive on a moment's re- 

 flection that when this measure is necessary to save the 

 crop, the same amount of labor oan scarcely bo bestow- 

 ed elsewhere so profitably. 



It however is very doHirable that some eff'ecfual and 

 more speedy mode of combatting these insects should 

 be discovered. So long ago as 1817, a notice in the 

 newspapers stated that making a few holes about the 

 hilU with a sharp stick was an easy way to entrap these 

 worms, as they would fall into such holes, and being 

 unable to crawl out of them, would perish — some of the 

 holes being found half full of worms thu:« gathered in 

 a single night. A writer in the Michigan I^armer, 

 whose communication was fully noticed in the Covntry 

 Gunlleman of June 7th, 1855, bears strong testimony 

 to the eftloacy of this measure. From my own otwerva- 

 tions it appears that these worms are never able to 

 orawl the length of their bodies up a perpendicular 

 bank of oarth, before they loose thoir foothold and fall. 

 I hence presume the measure above spoken of will be 

 cflectual. Indeed, if my supposition is correct, that 

 thof>e worms mostly come from the surrounding fields, 

 to tho places where %ve notice them, I have thought 

 that a single deep furrow, struck around the outside of 

 a field or garden, when tho worms aro first beginning 

 to appear — any break in the land-sido of the furrow 

 being repaired with a hoo — would form a barrier over 

 which it would be impossible for them to make their 

 way — thus protecting the whole field etfectually and 

 at. a very trifling cost. I hopo in ono or two summers 

 to complete my observations so that I om speak with 

 more confidence upon this aubieot than I am able to 

 do at present. Asa Fitch. Salem, N. Y., Feb. 20 



Watkhtown. — The citizens of this town have held 

 a meeting, and resolved to accept the terms on which 

 it is proposed to hold the next State Fair at that place. 

 Tho necessary committoes were appointed, and it is 

 believed they will have every thing ready to comploto 

 tho arrangements at the mooting of tho Exocutivo 

 Committee in April. 



