DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 1Y3 
This seems to be the case in a season of moisture and 
heat, without which their progress probably would be 
more slow." 
Among the many remedies recommended for this fly, 
or moth, fires and lights in the fields have been highly 
spoken of as attracting and destroying the miller. But 
even this may have its disadvantages, as Colonel Whitner, 
who has tried it, states that "it not only attracts the files 
from other plantations, but that multitudes of moths per- 
ished in the fiames." An article likewise appeared iiv', 
some of the Southern papers, not long since, recommeni*^ 
ing white cotton flags about a yard square, to be placpdc? 
in the field, by which the moths are attracted, and upj^n- 
which they deposit their eggs. Plates similar to those 
recommended for the boll-worm have also been used with 
partial success. But to destroy this pest, it will be neces^ 
sary to ascertain exactly the date of the appearance of the 
first moths, and then to exterminate them in the best man- 
ner, and as quickly as possible. Could not some favorite 
aliment be found on which the moth prefers to feed, as in 
the case of the tobacco-fiy, and then poison them with 
some effective agent ? Tliis would at once rid the fields 
of the first broods of moths, the progeny of which, in the 
second and third generations, might devastate half the fer- 
tile plantations of the South. 
The Grass Caterpillar. 
Another insect, which is often found in cotton fields, 
and mistaken for the real cotton caterpillar, is commonly 
known by the trivial name of the " grass-worm " or " cater- 
pillar," owing to the circumstance of its most natural food 
consisting of grass and weeds, although, when pressed by 
hunger, it will sometimes eat the leaf of the cotton plant. 
