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stead of early, as is sometimes done, it is evident that many insects 
would be destroyed. 
It is scarcely necessary to speak at length here of the various prep¬ 
arations that have been from time to time recommended to keep off 
Cut-worms, but which have been proven to have little or no value. 
Among these, soaking the corn, before planting, in copperas-water, 
kerosene, etc., are favorites. As the worm does not molest the kernel 
but the green plant, these can be of little or no service. They will 
burrow in dry salt, lime or ashes as readily as in dirt; hence, 
to resort to their use is a waste of time and material. Prof. Riley 
suggests in cornfields that have been subject to the attacks of Cut¬ 
worms: “ it is well to plant so much seed as will enable them to glut 
their appetites without taking all the stalks in the hill.” It seems 
to me that if this suggestion were taken and a few kernels more were 
planted than just what was expected to stand, less bare places in the 
corn field would be the result. The following familiar lines are to the 
point: 
“ One for the blackbird and one for the crow, 
Two for the cut-worm and three to grow.” 
Natural Remedies. 
It is fortunate that nature comes to the aid of man in fighting the 
host of foes that conspire against him in his efforts to secure from the 
soil by the labor of his hands that maintenance which was entailed 
upon him when Adam was commanded to go forth and earn his bread 
by the sweat of his brow. Among the higher forms, the carnivorous 
serve to keep in check the too rapid multiplication of plant-eating 
animals, so that the vegetable products of the earth are not too scanty 
for the use of man and the animals useful to him. AVhat the lions 
and tigers, cats and dogs are to man among the larger animals, the 
insect-eating birds and the great number of carnivorous insects are to 
him in keeping in check his insect foes; nay, more, for their rate of 
increase is more rapid than that of the larger animals. Prof. Riley 
counted a single cluster of the Variegated Cut-worm eggs and found it 
to contain 542, which, as he says, were probably laid by a single 
moth. . Each one of these eggs is capable of producing a caterpillar 
that will consume twenty-five times its weight of vegetation to bring 
it to maturity; or, if the worm weighs a quarter of an ounce when 
full grown, it has consumed about six ounces of vegetable matter. 
From this it is easy to see that were there no check placed upon their 
multiplication there would soon be a sufficient number of them to 
denude the earth of all kinds of leaves they would eat. 
. birds take part in this destruction. When the ground is olowed, 
either in the fall or spring, they hunt out and destroy a great many 
of them. As the Cut-worms usually hide during the day time the 
destruction of them by birds at other times is not very great. Many 
species of insects prey upon them, and in fact form the chief means 
of keeping them in check. These will be described in detail in the 
second part of this report, as they relate to the subject in general, and 
not particularly to Cut-worms as applied to corn insects. 
