April, '15] 



DEAN: POISONED BRAN MASH 



221 



On finding the poisoned bran mash practically one hundred per cent 

 effective, not only under different climatic conditions but also with 

 the worms infesting different crops and moving in different manners, 

 the writer felt safe in recommending it as the most practical and effec- 

 tive method of controlling the army worm. No time was left for 

 further experiments. The department, through the county demon- 

 stration agents and its special reporters, was in close touch with the 

 situation over the state. On May 30 the general warning was sent 

 out by wire and by letters calling attention to the seriousness of the 

 infestation and urging immediate action. The next day the daily 

 papers gave wide publicity to the serious outbreak and recommended 

 the use of the bran mash, the dust barrier, and spraying with an arseni- 

 cal spray. Within two days several of the county agents through the 

 bankers' associations and county clubs and by the use of the rural 

 telephones had their counties not only organized but had the farmers 

 already distributing the bran mash. In nearly all cases the farmers 

 were prompt in organizing and putting into operation the methods of 

 control recommended. If the worms were moving into an adjoining 

 field a strip of the bran mash was sown broadcast along the edge of 

 the field into which they were moving. If they were already in a field 

 of corn and the corn was small, the bait was sown broadcast down in 

 the lister furrows. If the corn was larger, it was scattered so that a 

 small portion of the mash dropped in the curl. If they were abundant 

 in an alfalfa field the crop was cut at once and the worms destroyed as 

 they were moving into an adjoining field. If they were working on 

 alfalfa that was just starting up after it had been cut, the bait was sown 

 broadcast over the infested field. Instructions were given to scatter 

 the bran mash in the evening unless the worms were working or moving 

 during the day, which they did on cloudy and slightly rainy days. 



In nearly all cases the results were excellent. Many of the reports 

 from the county farm agents stated that large numbers of the worms 

 were dead within thirty minutes after the poisoned bait was applied 

 and within two hours the majority were killed. One of the men of 

 the department stated that in one case the army worms were coming 

 into a corn field from an adjoining field of rye. To reach the corn 

 they had to pass through an osage orange fence and during the day 

 they congregated along the hedge in large numbers, and undoubtedly 

 would have moved into the corn at night. Since there were hundreds 

 of worms to the square yard along this fence it was an ideal place to 

 distribute the bait. A heavy sowing was made just before noon under 

 the hedge and along the rye field. Within thirty minutes hundreds of 

 dead worms were found. Within two hours the ground was covered 

 with dead ones and practically every small depression was filled with 



