Sweet Corn 



317 



reducing the smut developing in the field. Crop rotation is 

 leneficial and it is desirable not to apply corn-fodder mannio 

 to a field on which corn is to be grown next season. 



Corn eak-worm (Ileliothis ohsoleta) . — A caterpillar, l^/^ to 2 

 in. long, varying from light green to brown, highly variable in 

 markings but usually with a longitudinal- pale stripe along 

 the side, edged above with blackish. The eggs are laid on the 

 silk and the young caterpillars work their way down under 

 the husk, where they feed on the green silk and unripe kernels. 

 The broods coming late in the season are much more abun- 

 dant and injury to late corn is therefore greater. Control: 

 Experiments in New Jersey have shown that the injury to 

 sweet corn may be greatly decreased by dusting the silk with 

 a mixture of 50% arsenate of lead and 50% finely ground 

 sulfur. The first application is made soon after the silk 

 first appears, followed by one or two more applications before 

 the corn is ready to pick. For regions where the pest is 

 abundant corn for the cannery should be grown early in the 

 season to avoid most of the injury. 



European corn borer (Pyrausta nuMIalis). — A yellowish 

 gray brown-headed caterpillar, about % in. long, minutely 

 brown-spotted and indistinctly striped with reddish or dusky. 

 The caterpillars bore In all parts of the plants except the 

 roots. They are found in the stalks, ear, cob and in the tassel. 

 There are one or two broods depending on the climate — two 

 in the vicinity of Boston and one in the Mohawk River Valley, 

 New York. This pest was recently introduced from Europe 

 and as far as known is now restricted to central New England. 

 New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania. Control: To pre- 

 vent the spread of this pest, strict Federal and State quaran- 

 tines have been established, governing the transportation of 

 plants likely to contain the larvae. No effective control meas- 

 ures applicable to ordinary farm conditions have been devised. 



Brown fruit chafer (Euphoria inda) . — A thick-set yellow- 

 ish brown beetle, % in. long, marked on the back with small 

 irregular black dots. The beetles appear in the fall and attack 

 the corn in the milk, often working down under the husk. 



