STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
549 
of the hound upon the track of the hare. Its head was down, 
as if in the act of smelling, and every few minutes it would dig 
with its fore feet in the manner of the dog. At length it dug up 
a worm, stung it to death, and left it. On a succeeding day I 
saw the same insect engaged in burying the victims of its war¬ 
fare. A hole was excavated in the soil sufficient to deposit the 
worm by the use of its fore feet. The dead worm was then 
seized by the forcep jaws of the insect, who drew it backwards 
into the hole into which it entered in rear of the worm, and from 
which it immediately emerged, and scraping the earth together 
raised a tumulus over the grave.” 
As to the best modes for subduing the cut-worm and guarding 
against its ravages, only a few words will be necessary, as this 
topic has been so often discussed in our agricultural journals. 
Commonly only one or two stalks in a hill of corn or beans are 
cut off, and the remainder are left unmolested, the worms appear¬ 
ing to require but a few meals of this kind, just as they are 
on the point of changing to pupae. It is well, therefore, to plant 
so much seed as will enable these depredators to glut their appe¬ 
tites without taking all the stalks in the hill. Observation has 
long pointed to this as a precaution which should ahvays be 
taken. Hence the old rule as to the number of kernels which 
should be planted in each hill of corn— 
“ One for the black-bird and one for the crow, 
Two for the cut-worm and three to grow.” 
But occasionally these worms are so numerous that active ex¬ 
ertions must be put forth to save the crop from destruction. 
And general experience shows we have as yet only one resort 
which is perfectly certain and reliable, to wit, digging the worms 
out from their retreats and destroying them. To go over a large 
cornfield carefully, on this errand, and promptly as the exigency 
of the case demands, is quite a formidable task. Still, every one 
will perceive on a moment’s reflection that when this measure is 
necessary to save the crop, the same amount of labor can scarcely 
be bestowed elsewhere so profitably. 
It however is very desirable that some effectual and more 
speedy mode of combating these insects should be discovered. 
So long ago as 1817, a notice in the newspapers stated that making 
