87 
Fig. 2. Trap lantern for adults of cutworm. 
Trap Lanterns .—Trap lanterns (Fig. 2) may be used in con¬ 
nection with the foregoing preventive measures. Since cutworm 
moths are night fliers and are attracted to lights, they may be 
collected bv means of tubs over each of which a lantern is sus- 
* 
pended, and each containing an inch or two of water upon which 
a little kerosene has been poured. The moths flying about the 
light fall into the tub and are killed by the film of kerosene. 
Hand-picking .—Sometimes cutworms may be kept down by 
hand, especially in small houses and in beds of carnations and 
chrysanthemums. If looked for carefully they may be most easily 
and rapidly captured by the light of a lantern in the evening, when 
they are feeding on the plants. They may also be found in day¬ 
time hidden in the earth around injured plants. This method is 
unsatisfactory, however, for large houses, as was shown in the 
Chicago greenhouse mentioned under poisoned baits (page 86). 
No appreciable good was done there by two to four men kept 
for four or five months searching the soil for cutworms; the 
plants were in as poor condition and the cutworms were as numer¬ 
ous at the end of the season as at its beginning. 
Sterilization of the Soil zeith Steam .—It is desirable to ster¬ 
ilize soils, especially the sod soils, which are likely to be infested 
with cutworms, before placing them in the benches. This method 
of soil treatment was apparently first used in 1893, by Mr. W. 
N. Rudd, of Chicago*. Since then much has been written 
*Killing Grubs in Soil. American Florist (Chicago), Vol. TX, Sept. 28, 
1893, P- i/i. 
