105 
earliest and the latest planted fields are eaten the most. This may 
be so some seasons, but did not seem to be the case the past season. 
Topping the Corn .—During the latter part of September I had a 
chance to examine two fields of corn in Union countv that had been 
topped for the fodder. The work had been done about ten days be¬ 
fore. I should say that ninety per cent, of the ears at this time were 
quite hard and husks dry. From an examination of a large number 
of ears I found only two worms, and they were in ears that were still 
green. Nearly one-half the ears showed the work of the worms at 
the ends, but to a more limited extent than usual. My conclusions 
were that topping the corn had hastened the ripening, thus rendering 
it difficult for the worm to eat it; and at the same time, as the ears- 
now stood out in the sun unshaded by the stalks and leaves, the extra 
heat rendered it uncomfortable for the worm and hastened his depart¬ 
ure. There was but little injury sustained by the corn in this case, 
foi the ends of the ears were but little eaten and were dry. When 
we remember that a considerable portion of the early part of their 
lives is spent in the silk before reaching the ears it is plain that hast¬ 
ening the ripening of the corn must considerably lessen the amount 
of damage done by them. 
Fall Plowing .—To make it plain how this is to reach them I shall 
have to explain some observations made on the fall brood of chrysa¬ 
lids that were found during the month of November in a field where 
the worms had been very abundant in the corn before it was har¬ 
vested. In digging for the chrysalids round the corn hills I found 
that instead of their occupying an oval earthern cocoon, as has usually 
been written of theifi, and as they apparently do in the rearing box. 
they were down in the ground from five to six inches below the sur¬ 
face in a hole about a third of an inch in diameter reaching from the 
chrysalis to the top of the ground, where it was covered over with a 
thin film of dirt from an eighth to a quarter of an inch thick. This 
hole was larger at the bottom than at the top, apparently so as to give 
free motion to the chrysalis, and usually‘bent in its course, so that the 
lower part would have an inclination of perhaps forty-five degrees. 
At the bottom would be found the chrysalis, the small end downward 
and the head upward. In one case I found the hole so bent that the 
chrysalis occujned a horizontal position. The hole was smooth 
inside, and was perhaps made so by cementing the dirt together, but 
of that I could not tell, for the whole ground was moist, though dry 
enough to be firm. I took several of the chrysalids and put them in 
a box with some loose dirt and then moistened it, after which I allowed 
them to freeze. The dirt, when they were allowed to freeze, was dry 
enough so that if it had been in the garden and turned over with a 
spade it would crumble. When examined after the freezing all were 
dead. Some others taken up in the bottom of their subterranean 
habitations, without sifting the loose dirt round them in their holes, 
and allowed to freeze, were not killed by freezing. 
My conclusions were, that so long as ihey were in the smooth com¬ 
partments they had made for themselves, free from any loose dirt 
that would become wet and stick to them, they could pass the winter 
in safety, even though they might be frozen ; but, when the dirt was 
packed loosely round them and became wet and stuck to them, then 
