53 



One of the most interesting places for observation we visited was that of 

 Wm. J. Porter, a practical and energetic farmer, who, although he has fought the 

 worms most vigorously, has suffered severely from their attacks. B}^ means of 

 ditching and by burning straw, he has been able to save part of his crops, but 

 several of his fields of corn, timothy and wheat, were already ruined. He 

 reported the worms much less numerous than they had been, but we saw many 

 thousands in his fields. 



During our rambles Mr. Porter took us to one of the ditches he had dug to 

 keep the worms out of a large corn-field. In this ditch he had sunk every two 

 or three j^ards apart, deeper pits, where we found the worms two and three inches 

 deep, and the rest of the ditch was black with the dead and living worms. From 

 the dead a fearful stench arose in such strength as to attract the buzzards, which, 

 as we viewed the scene, were proudly sailing overhead. 



Mr. Porter informed us that the Avorms always originated in the wheat and 

 old grass-fields, and during the morning hid themselves from observation, never 

 appearing in numbers until after 3 o'clock p.m., which accorded with our own 

 observations and with those of the other farmers visited. 



They ate up the timothy and corn clean, and after devouring the blades 

 of the wheat congregated, three or four together, on the heads ; after devouring 

 several of the lower grains they ate the husks and nipped off the upper portion 

 of the kernel of the rest, thus almost entirely destroying it. If the grain is well 

 advanced and somewhat hard it escapes destruction ; but as most of the wheat 

 visited was still in the milk the destruction was great, and not less than 75 per 

 cent, of the crop had been already destroyed. 



Although several parasites are known to prey upon the worms, and we kept 

 a sharp lookout for such, none were seen except a few cocoons of an Apanteles 

 which were discovered, toofether with the worms, under old trash and lo^^s in a 

 wheat-field. A few were gathered and forwarded to the Department, some of 

 which have since hatched, and proved to be Apanteles militaris, Walsh. 



On a neighboring farm, owned by Mr. Z. Rouch, almost as much damage had 

 been done by the army worm as -on the former place. A large corn-field and a 

 field of timothy were totally ruined. A wheat-field, farther advanced than that 

 of Mr. Porter's, was less seriously affected, although it did not escape entirely, the 

 blades of the wheat and the young timothy being entirely eaten up by them. 



It was on this place that we saw the effects of the worms on barley. Quite 

 a large field already in head was completely ruined. 



In the afternoon we visited probably the largest farm in the county, that of 

 the Hon. D. N. Dennis, comprising 500 acres or more. 



No better place existed for the proper study of the pest, as the worms were 

 swarming in all the fields by the millions, and we had hit upon the proper time 

 of day to see them most advantageously, 4 o'clock p.m. The ground was literally 

 black with the crawling worms. Mr. Dennis had made no special efforts to 

 destroy them, although, like some of his neighbours, he had surrounded some of 

 his fields with ditches in an attempt to keep them out of adjoining fields. I 

 believe it would have been quite practicable to have destroyed many thousands 

 with poisonous washes, or, as Mr. Potter did, by burning straw in the ditches, as 

 the bottom of the ditches were black with worms. 



This farm is divided by a central lane, on either side of Avhich are fields of 

 wheat, corn, grass, oats, etc., and in passing through this lane we found the worms 

 quite plentiful, crawling almost invariably in the direction of the prevailing- 

 wind. 



