1914. 
THE ARMY WORM. 
Its Life Habits and Distribution. Fight It! 
Part I. 
CCURATE records regarding distribution in 
the present army-worm outbreak are not now 
at hand, but according to newspaper clippings 
examined, it has occurred in Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Mary¬ 
land and Michigan. It was reported as being par¬ 
ticularly severe on Long Island, in Maryland, and 
in Michigan, and no doubt it has caused greater or 
less damage throughout all of the Northeastern 
FEMALE ARMY WORM MOTH, NATURAL SIZE. 
Fig. 438. 
States and the Middle West. According to one news¬ 
paper. the damage in Michigan was estimated at a 
million dollars. 
FOOD PLANTS AND DAMAGE.—The chief dam¬ 
age is done to crops of the grass family, including 
the cereals and corn. The worms eat the leaf-blades 
and often the heads of the grass or grain, leaving 
only the stalks. Many oat fields in Connecticut this 
season, were thus stripped of their leaves; the heads 
were also eaten off and fell to the ground. The 
writer saw a five-acre oat field similarly injured in 
1890, at Hartford; the caterpillars in marching to 
the adjoining field, literally covered the ground over 
an area perhaps twenty feet wide and more than a 
hundred feet long. Within this area it was impos¬ 
sible to walk without crushing a dozen or more 
caterpillars,at each step. One could actually hear 
them crawl upon the ground. Thus when in search 
of food, army worms will attack fields of corn and 
many kinds of garden vegetables, which are not or¬ 
dinarily, their first choice. In some places cranber¬ 
ries have been severely injured by them. Clover and 
Alfalfa are not often greatly damaged, yet in New 
Jersey in 1S80, there were cases where the army 
worms seemed to prefer clover. They seldom attack 
trees and have only once been recorded as eating the 
leaves of fruit tres. The present season, at least 
in Connecticut, they were not sufficiently abundant 
to cause them to migrate from one field to another 
in large numbers; they were able to get plenty of 
food in the fields where they were hatched, and in 
most cases without eating all of it. Oats, barley, 
rye, wheat, grass, corn and millet were the principal 
crops damaged. Like cutworms, army worms feed 
mostly at night, and hide under something near the 
ground, during the day. When the worms are nu¬ 
merous and their food scarce, they are not able to 
satisfy themselves at night and therefore feed dur¬ 
ing the daytime. 
WHAT IS THE ARMY WORM?—The army worm 
is the larva? or caterpillar of an inconspicuous brown 
moth, belonging to a group known as owlet or Noc- 
tuid moths which includes the cutworms. Its Latin 
or scientific name is Heliophila unipuncta Haw., but 
for many years it has been called Leucania uni¬ 
puncta, this name appearing in most of the pub- 
ARMY WORMS SHOWING EGGS OF PARASITE 
TACHINID FLY, TWICE ENLARGED. Fig. 439. 
lished accounts of the insect. The name unipuncta 
was probably given to the species because of the 
small white spot near the center of each fore wing. 
The common name “army worm’’ doubtless comes 
from the habit of the caterpillars when abundant; 
after devastating one field they march onward en 
masse, seeking another to devour. But whatever the 
name, the army worm is the same old pest, which 
for nearly two hundred years has exhibited occa¬ 
sional and destructive outbreaks. The Rev. Thomas 
Smith, of Falmouth, Me., wrote in his diary, June 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
27, 1743: “There are millions of worms, in armies, 
appearing and threatening to cut off every green 
thing; people are exceedingly alarmed.” This was 
the first outbreak of which we have a record. Others 
have occurred in the years 1762, 1770, 1790, 1817, 
1825, 1861, 1875, 1880, 1882, 1885, 1890 and 1896. 
There are two other kinds of army worms, the 
“wheat head army worm,” Heliophila albilinea Hbn., 
and the “Fall army worm,” Lapliygma frugiperda 
S. & A. 
WHY DO THESE OUTBREAKS OCCUR?— 
Where is the army worm, and what is it doing in 
all the years between these outbreaks? These are 
fair questions. The army worm is here all the time. 
It feeds as usual on the native grasses. We find a 
few moths around electric lights, in other years. 
But it does no damage because the caterpillars are 
few, and they are seldom noticed. It is only when 
extraordinarily abundant that they attack and in¬ 
jure cultivated crops. “But why are they abund¬ 
ant?” you will ask. It is the old and somewhat com¬ 
plicated question of weather conditions, and natural 
enemies. These factors, though existing in variable 
and uncertain ratios each year, occasionally form 
such a combination as to permit an outbreak. No 
one has yet been able to manipulate or control these 
conditions, like members of the stock exchange, in 
order to corner the market, to prevent an outbreak, 
or even to predict with any degree of accuracy when 
an outbreak may occur. 
DISTRIBUTION.—Dyar’s “List of North Ameri¬ 
can I.epidoptera” gives H. unipuncta as occurring in 
ARMY WORM FEEDING ON CORN, NATURAL 
SIZE. Fig. 440. 
the Atlantic States. This publication also lists 
thirty-six other species of the genus Heliophila, 15 
of which occur along the Atlantic seaboard. Slinger- 
laiul states in Cornell Bulletin No. 133, that al¬ 
though a native of North America, the army worm 
is now known to occur in South America, England, 
Australia, New Zealand, India, Java and Madeira, 
but is not destructive in these countries. 
Connecticut Exp. Station. w. e. britton. 
ARE MILK INSPECTORS STRAIGHT ? 
N our vicinity there has been an almost complete 
cessation of complaint regarding inspection of 
cow stables by city milk inspectors for some 
time. The reason at first was that we got in touch 
with dealers in other cities, and the New York in¬ 
spectors had little to do with us. Later, when New 
York got in competition, there was a discussion on 
as to whether the city or the State should do the 
inspecting, and farmers have an idea that this dis¬ 
cussion held inspection somewhat in fear. Then the 
New York folks made charges against the State 
Department of Agriculture, charges which many be¬ 
lieve were for the purpose of holding off the change 
to State inspection. I do not say that these are es¬ 
tablished facts, but there seems to be much reason 
for such conclusions. Whether this diagnosis of the 
case be correct or not, there is little doubt that we 
are having more trouble from inspection than for 
some time. It does not yet seem to be equal to that 
of earlier times, but is thought to be unfair in some 
cases. That State inspection appears to be now in 
abeyance, and no appearance of pressing the 
charges against the Department, goes to indicate 
that the object of the city has been accomplished. 
Those charges were serious, although answered by 
the Department, but they should not be dropped 
without some definite conclusions. If the city made 
1027 
the charges for a purpose, as some think, other than 
the one apparent on the face, then the Department 
should be exonerated and blame applied where it 
belongs. But it is not of any disagreement between 
the Department and certain city interests that I 
wish particularly to speak, but of some acts of in¬ 
spection that are recent. 
My own suspicion was aroused early in the Spring 
when in the office of one of the big milk concerns. 
An inspector happened to be there when I went 
in, although I did not know his identity at the time. 
CHRYSALIDS OF ARMY WORM, NATURAL 
SIZE. Fig. 441. 
He soon went out. and as he departed he remarked 
to the manager that if he needed any assistance let 
him know. The manager soon explained to me that 
inspection is now as it should be, and remarked that 
the inspector who just went out was a mighty fine 
fellow. If inspection is for the exclusive benefit of 
the dealer it is not as it should be. These remarks 
do not prove that it is for the exclusive benefit of 
the dealer, to enable him to buy milk at a lower price 
where he ought to pay for increased care and atten¬ 
tion on the part of the farmer, but they set one to 
thinking. Along in June, when milk was flush, it 
is stated that a certain concern sent for an in¬ 
spector to come. He came and scored down nearly 
all the dairies in one neighborhood, so that the 
10-cent bonus could be withheld. At the same time 
the test went down, so as to save the other 10 
cents that the company contracted to pay if the test 
met the requirements. Here was a saving of 20 
cents a hundred to the dealer. This is as it appeared 
and is believed by the farmers. They found that 
they did not have to stand such a cut. and com¬ 
menced preparations to leave the concern. This 
took till well towards July, or into the month. Then 
the manager found what was up and immediately 
took his horse and drove about to the patrons, offer¬ 
ing to pay them from that time on both the test and 
the score. Most of the patrons stayed on but a few 
left. It does not leave a friendly feeling either 
toward the concern or the inspection. 
I will mention one other instance. It has been 
claimed all along that inspection is more severe in 
the case of a cooperative creamery. I have never 
traced this out. but here is an instance that goes a 
way toward establishing the claim. At a certain co¬ 
operative creamery there was one patron who lived 
on a rented farm and refused to come up to the 
requirements of the cooperative, even when they 
were engaged in making butter. He was dropped, 
and went to a milk shipping station in the same 
town. The inspector came and gave him a fine 
score, although he had done nothing to clean up. 
BESS, A GOOD GRADE HOLSTEIN. Fig. 442. 
A few days later the farm changed hands and the 
new tenant fixed up what he could do readily, and 
was taken on by the cooperative. At about the same 
time the cooperative commenced to ship cream to the 
city, and the same inspector came back and inspected 
the patrons of the cooperative. All agreed that the 
inspection was much more severe, and in the case of 
the new man who had cleaned up, he was scored over 
25 points below his predecessor in the same stable, 
but who patronized the big dealer who operated tho 
shipping station. h. h. l. 
