1911. 
THE RURAL) NEW-YORKER 
703 
THE CURSED CUTWORM. 
A most serviceable article for this part of the country 
would be an exhaustive statement (by some one who 
knows) about the cutworm, his life history and how to get 
rid of him. They have been the worst ever this year. 
Their activities took nearly all of my early beets. They 
cleaned the ground of lettuce in some places, and if I had 
not dug at them industriously they would probably have 
taken it all. During the past 10 days about one-quarter 
of my asparagus has been bitten, and carrots, tomatoes, 
spinach, cucumbers, etc., have been hard dealt with. I 
have not dared to put out peppers, cabbage, celery, etc., 
for fear much of it would be destroyed. For several things 
I have considered winding with paper as a preventive, 
but now they can climb. IIow shall we get rid of them 
and not have a perpetual fight? f. t. j. 
Rhode Island. 
Was Job any more sorely afflicted than is the 
market gardner who is troubled with a scourge of 
cutworms? Having been a tiller of the soil all my 
life, I well remember in my boyhood days my father 
compelling me to get out of bed at early dawn and 
go with him to the field where the young cantaloupe 
plants, cucumbers, squashes, tomatoes or any other 
crop was being rapidly destroyed by cutworm depre¬ 
dations. There, hour by hour, we searched through 
first layers of soil around each plant for these pests. 
This was done each morning until the sun became 
warm and drove the insects deep into the soil where 
it was hard to find them. This appeared to be the 
only way in which the grower could help himself. 
We often noticed that certain fields were troubled 
with this pest much more thanr others, and where 
they would be most plentiful one season, there would 
be very few the next. This led to many conjectures 
as to where the worms came from, some said it was 
the corn worm, and various other explanations were 
advanced. Some went so far as to claim certain crops 
bred them, but all the while it was rise at dawn and 
search the soil for the marauders. Some one said 
Fall plowing would kill them, another said a heavy 
dressing with gas lime would destroy them. Both of 
these proved to be fallacies when fully tried out, and 
yet I know farmers who are practicing Fall plowing 
to rid their fields of cutworms, believing they are 
accomplishing much good. There is no doubt but 
that many worms are destroyed, but far from a per¬ 
fect job is accomplished. Enough are left to do 
much if not total damage. From where I sit and 
write I have a field set with early tomatoes. A strip 
through that field was an old raspberry patch cut off 
last Fall, canes burned, and plowed in 
early November. Cutworms were many 
times worse on this Fall plowed portion 
than on any other part of the field, and 
no other' port of the field was plowed 
till Spring. This, at least, throws a wet 
blanket on the plowing proposition. 
Then what do you do still, rise at 
peep o’ day and search for the pests? 
Why bless you, no. Thanks to the 
many sciences that go to make up suc¬ 
cessful agriculture, our entomologist 
undertook the study of the life cycle of 
this insect, and soon had a remedy for 
the farmer. Many seem to think that 
the so-called cutworm lives and breeds 
as found at its work, but this is not 
true. The mature insect is a moth or 
winged insect, that appears about mid¬ 
summer or a little later. These millers 
are of several species, but the life cycle 
is about the same in all, the remedial 
measures the same throughout. The 
moth is dark colored, and a night-flyer. 
It is often seen around the light during 
the evening, and if caught has a floury 
substance on its wings. This insect lays 
its eggs on grasses and weeds, and the 
larvae hatch from late July till early 
September. They feed and grow very 
slowly for a time, arriving by cold 
weather at one inch or less in length. 
.At the approach of cold weather they 
burrow deeper into the soil, spin a very 
thin cocoon around themselves, and 
there spend the Winter. At the first 
approach of Spring they come to the 
surface ready to destroy anything eatable. Left to 
their own will and pleasure, they remain a “bone of 
contention,” eating almost any vegetation till June, 
when they become full grown and are nearly two 
inches in length. At this stage they burrow under 
ground, make a cell and remain there about a month, 
when they again appear as winged insects ready to 
deposit another crop of eggs to grow more cutworms 
to bother the farmer’s life still farther. This is the 
life cycle of this obnoxious pest. 
This moth has a preference, too, as to what kind 
of vegetation she lays her eggs on, grasses and any 
of the clovers being among her first selections, while 
rye is avoided entirely in some cases. Rarely do we 
find very large quantities of worms where rye was 
sown early, while clover, Crimson, Red or Alsike, is 
almost invariably alive with the pests. This would 
seem to say the grower of vegetables must not sow 
any of the clovers as a cover crop for fear of a 
scourge of worms, but the clovers do us much 
more good than the worms do harm, provided we 
apply the remedy. And what is that? 
The formula sent out by various entomologists was 
50 pounds wheat bran, one pound Paris green, and 
A GOOD START FOR BOSSY. Fig. £52 
about three pounds powdered sugar, or one quart 
molasses. Th.e green and bran are mixed dry and 
then wetted and made into a stiff mash, with the 
sugar or molasses added at time of wetting. This 
has been modified. To-day we are simply using wheat 
bran and Paris green, mixed thoroughly, and applied 
dry. There are two things to be remembered in using 
this compound; it will kill poultry or anything else 
that eats it, and if applied too heavily on young suc¬ 
culent vegetation it will kill that too. Hence, keep 
poultry away, and apply not on the plants or against 
them ; the worms prefer this mixture to vegetation. 
A year ago the writer had his asparagus fields 
literally alive with these worms. I personally dug 
out 124 worms around one asparagus crown. I im¬ 
mediately stirred the soil and applied the above 
formula, killing millions and saving my “grass crop,” 
but I soon heard a noise that smacked of a storm 
approaching in the shape of a lawsuit or rather an 
indictment claiming I was placing poison in the way 
of our song birds, but this failed because there is no 
law in New Jersey prohibiting the use of this mix¬ 
ture. The most successful way to use the above 
formula is to apply it ahead of the plants appearing. 
The worms are very hungry when they first become 
active. Now we plow under all vegetation that de¬ 
prives them of their living, then we plant the crop, 
and they are so starved they soon clean it up when it 
appears. Now if we will apply this mixture before 
the crop appears, the worms being hungry and fond 
of the bait, they eat and are finished. A year ago I 
did this on my muskmelon field that was known to 
be much infested with worms, but when the plants 
came through I failed to find the first hill that was 
destroyed by cutworms. Another point in favor of 
this remedy is, if applied lightly on corn hills, crows 
or red-winged blackbirds will not dig out or pull up 
the corn. The bran and Paris green remedy is a boon 
to the vegetable grower; it is easy to obtain, but little 
trouble to mix and apply; 50 to 100 pounds of the 
mixture will suffice for an acre according to the close¬ 
ness of the plants. The writer uses it on all truck 
and vegetable crops with absolute success. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. c. c, hulsart. 
SHEEP AS WEED KILLERS. 
Anyone who has pastured sheep stoutly maintains 
that they are excellent weed exterminators. In the 
picture, Fig. 254, is shown a field of Sapling or Mam¬ 
moth clover. In May this field was divided by a 
temporary wire fence as shown near the middle of 
picture, and the part on the right pastured for six 
weeks. About July 1 the sheep were taken off and 
the clover allowed to grow. The picture was taken 
August 1, and shows the pastured part almost free of 
weeds, while the unpastured portion is almost white 
with white top. The clover was practically as thick 
on one side as the other and was about waist high, 
though it had been blown down by a rain storm. The 
pastured part had not been overstocked with sheep, 
so the clover was not injured much, but the weeds 
were given a serious setback, and but few small ones 
were to be seen. Fig. 253 shows the sheep that were 
pastured on this field. They are grade Merinos and 
Shropshires and are owned by Evans & Bayham, of 
Highland County, Ohio. It is intended to cut the 
pastured clover for seed and a good yield seems as¬ 
sured. w. E. DUCKWAIA. 
VARIOUS NOTES. 
At the North at the present time is little more than 
general interest in the future of the Panama Canal. 
All over the South, however, people are 
discussing the probable effect of the 
completed canal on the future history 
of this country. There is a general con¬ 
viction that the lower Mississippi Val¬ 
ley will be greatly helped when com¬ 
merce begins to flow through Panama. 
New waterways from the coal and iron 
mines around Birmingham, Ala., are 
being considered. It is expected that 
such cities as Galveston, New Orleans 
and Mobile will receive a boom, and 
many believe that Memphis will become 
a great distributing center. It does not 
seem to us likely that the local benefits 
will be as great as the Southern people 
anticipate. The canal will undoubtedly 
do much to change the course of ocean 
commerce. Many ships which now sail 
around the continent to northern ports 
will cut through the canal, pass up the 
Mississippi and Ohio, and transfer their 
cargoes to be carried over railroads or 
new waterways. It is hard to see just 
what local benefit the South will obtain, 
except in a few cities on the coast or 
along the Mississippi, or in manufactur¬ 
ing places like Birmingham. At the 
same time the expectation of benefit and 
the preparation for it is one of the best 
influences which can come to Southern 
farming. Just such hope and looking 
ahead are what the South needs to give 
spirit to agriculture. Without that, 
farming cannot be improved. 
We reported a case in Highland 
Co., Ohio, where a manufacturer sued to recover the 
price of seed drills. These drills were not satisfactory 
and were a Iqss to the dealer since he could not sell 
them. This dealer had signed a contract, but an 
agent had given a verbal guarantee not in the signed 
agreement. The court held the dealer to the printed 
contract and ordered him to pay. The circuit court 
has since sustained this judgment. The dealer must 
pay for a lot of drills which are defective or useless! 
The chances are that the courts will hold you strictly 
to a signed agreement of this sort. These contracts 
are drawn by skilled lawyers who leave no loopholes. 
About the only way to get rid of trouble is to refuse 
to sign the other fellow’s contract or agreement. 
A FLOCK OF SHEEP WEED CLEANERS. Fin. 253. 
THE RESULT OF PASTURING SHEEP. Fig. 254. 
