4r6S 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
The Green Corn Pest. 
In October we mentioned the ravages of the 
Cabbage Pest, which had brought such losses 
to our cabbage growers. Since then our mar¬ 
ket gardeners have had great trouble with their 
late sweet corn. Almost 
every ear has been infested 
by a “ worm,” which means 
a caterpillar. Upon strip¬ 
ping the husks from the 
ear it is found that this 
“worm” has eaten one or 
more rows of kernels, and 
made itself quite at home. 
Some ears brought us by 
Mr. P. T. Quinn, show a 
perforation of the husks, 
but whether the insect en¬ 
tered that way or only pro¬ 
vided for ventilation, we 
cannot say. Where we have 
observed this insect in our 
own corn, it appears to 
have entered through the 
silk and eaten its way 
down. In our correspond¬ 
ence with Mr. C. Y. Riley, 
the State Entomologist of 
Missouri, he informs us that 
the insect which troubles 
our corn is the same that 
makes such havoc in the 
cotton-fields of the South¬ 
ern States, and is there 
known as the Boll-worm. 
It seems to be not very 
particular as to its food, as 
it will eat newly forming 
cotton seed as readily as it 
will young corn, and it at¬ 
tacks with equal voracity 
young tomatoes (fig. 1), and 
young pumpkins! The cat¬ 
erpillar (a, fig. 2), is variable 
in color, but is generally 
of a pale green, marked 
with brown and black, the 
body being marked with 
longitudinal light and dark 
lines, and covered with 
black spots, which give 
rise to soft hairs. When 
the caterpillar has attained its growth it de¬ 
scends into the earth and there forms an oval, 
silky cocoon. In three weeks it emerges as a 
Tig. 1.—BOLL-WORM ON A TOMATO. 
perfect insect, shown in &, fig. 2 with its wings 
spread, and at c, with them closed. The 
general color of the moth is a clayey yellow, 
with a greenish tinge, with olive and brownish 
markings. The figures we have given are cop¬ 
ied from the American Entomologist for 1869, 
a periodical which we regret to learn is to be 
suspended with the present year. From the 
habits of this insect we can see that the only 
preventive is to be found in the destruction of 
the moth before the eggs are laid. Light at¬ 
tracts most night-flying insects, and a lantern 
placed in a pan of water will cause a great 
number to destroy themselves. Plates contain¬ 
eire-CRACKer plant.—( Cupheaplatycentra .) 
ing vinegar and molasses have been suggested 
as useful traps. The whole warfare against in¬ 
sects depends upon knowing their habits. 
ISTothing Mill destroy this Boll-M 7 orm after it 
once gets inside the ear of corn. We must pre¬ 
vent it from entering, and the only way is to 
destroy the parent insect Mfliich lays the egg. 
If lights, against M’hich it can beat itself to its 
OM’n destruction, or sweets that will entrap it 
M’ill do it, let us use them. This corn-silk worm 
and the cabbage pest will do much towards 
opening the eyes of our market gardeners; and 
perhaps they will insist that the legislatures of 
the various States, which expend money for 
many objects so freely, shall devote a moderate 
sum to employing competent persons to instruct 
the people as to the best methods of fighting 
and destroying their most formidable enemies. 
The Fire-cracker Plant. 
(Cuphea jilatycentra.) 
We arc often asked to name a plant that will 
bloom freely during the winter in ordinary 
window culture. We do not know of a better 
plant for all purposes than Cuphea platycentra. 
It is a most accommodating thing, as it is an¬ 
nual, or perennial, as one choses to have it. 
Started from the seed it w 7 ill bloom the first year, 
and it may then be kept as a house plant, and 
thereafter be propagated by cuttings. As it is 
one of the things generally 
kept by florists, it is usually 
better to get plants than to 
raise them from seeds. It 
is a capital plant anywhere, 
whether set out in the bor¬ 
der, used as a center-piece 
to a hanging or other bas¬ 
ket, or as a single specimen 
grown in a pot. The plant 
has a remarkably bushy 
habit of growth. It throws 
off branches in great num¬ 
bers, and these, being M r ell 
clothed with leaves, make 
a dense tuft. Then at the 
axils of the leaves append 
tM r o slender, tubular flow- 
ers, bright crimson, with a 
dark violet—almost black 
—border, edged with white, 
which makes them, though 
not very showy, at least in¬ 
teresting. The plant is al¬ 
ways in bloom : if we keep 
it indoors it blooms all win¬ 
ter, and if w 7 e turn it out 
into the border, it flow r ers 
all summer long. It is of 
the easiest propagation. 
Some plants outside had 
become too large to make 
good pot plants, so w 7 e cut 
off a lot of branches and 
stuck them into a pot of 
wet sand. In two M 7 eeks 
they were rooted and grow 7 - 
ing, and begging to be re¬ 
moved to good soil. We 
do not know of a plant 
that is more easily propa¬ 
gated or that is on the 
wdiole more satisfactory. To 
be sure it is not show 7 y, but 
it gives a mass of delicate, 
deep-green leaves, grows 
freely, and blooms abun¬ 
dantly, and the flowers, though small, are unique 
and beautiful. The long tubular form and scar- 
• 
let color of the flow 7 er have led to the popular 
name of Fire-cracker Plant. The generic name 
Cuphea , refers to its curved pod, and the spe¬ 
cific one, platycentra , means broad-spurred. 
The plant is a native of Mexico, is hardy on the 
Continent of Europe, and would doubtless 
prove so in the United States south of Maryland. 
