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JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



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them. Counts made in average places along the hedge showed over two 

 hundred dead worms per square foot. 



Such excellent cooperation was had from nearly all the farmers, and 

 so well organized were many of the counties — credit for which should 

 be given to the county farm agents — that within less than two weeks 

 the army worm infestation was completely under control and instead 

 of a loss of some five or six million dollars to agricultural crops (which 

 would be a conservative estimate of the damage if the worms had not 

 been destroyed, and a loss that actually did take place in an adjoining 

 state) the damage in Kansas w^as considerabh^ less than a million 

 dollars. 



Variegated Cutworm 



It is nothing unusual in Kansas for the variegated cutworm (Peri- 

 droma saucia) to appear in great numbers in local districts and take 

 on the habits of the armj^ worm. In the spring of 1909 the infesta- 

 tion of this insect, which was more severe than usual, extended over 

 several counties in the south central part of the state. At that time 

 they appeared in the early spring and destroyed thousands of acres 

 of wheat and many acres of alfalfa. The writer as well as two other 

 men of the Experiment Station spent several days in the field endeavor- 

 ing to find an effective method of control. The ordinary poisoned 

 bran mash did not prove effective and was soon discarded as an ineffec- 

 tive and an impracticable method of control. 



The infestation of last spring was a much wider one, extending over 

 almost the same territory as that infested by the army worm. In 

 fact, in many cases the army worms were associated with the cutworms 

 in the alfalfa fields. Instead of injuring crops early in the season and 

 confining their attack almost entirely to wheat as they did in the pre- 

 vious infestations, they appeared almost sixty days later or about the 

 first of June, and the main injury was confined to the alfalfa, although 

 in a few^ cases after the alfalfa had been cut, they migrated into garden 

 truck and corn. 



The first crop of alfalfa w^as cut during the last of May and the first 

 week in June. If army worms were present they at once moved into 

 the adjoining fields of corn, wheat, or garden truck, but in nearl}^ all 

 cases the cutworms remained in the alfalfa. Climatic conditions were 

 very favorable for a rapid growth of the second crop, which was suffi- 

 cient to hold the cutworms, although apparently it did not entirely 

 satisfy their appetites. Within two or three days the farmers noticed 

 that the alfalfa was not gro^vdng and that the ground was just as bare 

 as the day the alfalfa was cut. An examination of the fields soon 

 showed that the worms were eating the new growth of alfalfa just as 

 soon as it appeared. Although the worms did not get enough to sat- 



