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General Farm Topics 
How Shall We Fight the Wireworm? 
It seems to me as I look backward to 
my boyhood days ou the farm that of the 
half-dozen troublesome insects which were 
familiar to us all, wireworms gave the 
most concern and caused the most general 
injury: and I am not. certain but these 
pests, along with white grubs, are still 
the most important ones on the general 
dairy and grain farm in New York Slate. 
More than that, the destruction of wire- 
worms still constitutes one of the very 
difficult problems in insect control. Al¬ 
though tremendous advances have been 
made within the last 25 years in our 
knowledge of the lives and habits of in¬ 
sects, and in ways and means of checking 
their injuries, yet we are at the present 
time almost at a standstill regarding 
quick and effective methods of fighting 
those insects that bore in the stems and 
trunks of plants and trees and those that 
live beneath the surface of the soil. 
Life History of Wheat Wirewokm. 
—The wheat wireworm (Agriotes mau- 
eus) is probably the most common one, 
working on the seeds and roots of corn 
and the tubers of potatoes in this part 
of the country. It spends three long 
years in the soil before completing its 
full life cycle, and during most of the 
warmer portions of this time it is feeding 
ou the roots of farm crops. The parent 
“snapping”’ or “ click ’ beetle laid its 
eggs, let us say, in May, 1917. in the 
ground at the roots of grasses in mead¬ 
ows or pastures. The eggs hatched in a 
short time, and the young wireworms fed 
during the remainder of the Summer on 
the roots of the grasses, and passed the 
Winter in the soil. The next Summer 
(1918) they fed ravenously, grew larger, 
and destroyed considerable grass, which, 
however, was probably not noticed. They 
passed another Winter in the field, and in 
the Spriii" of 1919 they fed again until 
early in July, when they became full 
grown. They then left the plants and 
formed small earthen cells in the soil, in 
plants along the rows. A similar thing 
is liable to happen to potatoes when 
planted on sod that has previously been 
standing several years in grass. These, 
then, are the essential facts concerning 
the habits of wireworms, from which we 
may draw certain conclusions regarding 
methods of fighting them. 
General Measures of Control. —In 
the first place, it is unsafe to plant corn 
or potatoes on sod of old, loug-standing 
pastures or meadows. It is safest, in 
such cases, when practicable, to get the 
hay crop off early, plow the land at once 
and sow some crop, like buckwheat, that 
is not much troubled with wireworms. 
Some of the pests will be killed and the 
land will be in better shape and safer for 
corn or potatoes in the following Spring. 
If it is not practicable to grow a crop 
of buckwheat on the sod land, and the 
seriousness of the situation demands 
rather extraordinary measures, thou it 
would be advisable to plow the land any¬ 
how as soon as the hay has been removed, 
and to disk it at intervals during the re¬ 
mainder of the season. The object of 
disking is to prevent growth of all vege¬ 
tation and to destroy as many wireworms 
as possible and to kill as many of the 
soft, tender beetles lying in the soil as 
one can. Even with this treatment one 
should not expect to prevent all injury 
from wireworms to corn or potatoes 
planted the following Spring. 
A Four-Year Rotation. —Finally, on 
the general grain and dairy farm a mod¬ 
ern four-year rotation of crops may well 
be established as soon as practicable, and 
maintained through the years to come. 
This is not only _ the best agricultural 
nractice, hut it is the most effective 
method of dealing with wireworms and 
white grubs iu the long run. for it must 
be remembered that the ultimate goal to 
work toward is the final elimination of 
the wireworms from the tillable land of 
the farm. One of the most approved 
crop rotations where Winter wheat can 
« 
Geese on Dress Parade 
which, after a short time, they changed 
to quiet, mummy-like objects, known as 
pupae, in August (1919) the pupae 
changed to the parent beetles, which are 
soft and tender and easily killed, and 
which are now resting quietly iu their 
brittle mud cells in the ground, ready to 
come out this Spring, April and Slay, 
when they will lay their eggs for another 
generation. There is another, wireworm, 
tlie so-called corn wireworm (Melanotus 
communis) that, is fairly common in New 
England, New York and the Middle (West. 
It works on corn and other grasses, but 
seems to be confined very largely to poorly 
drained, heavy soils. Probably it could 
be checked by heavily liming and thor¬ 
oughly tile-draining the fields in which 
it occurs. 
The Vulnerable Place. — I have 
given the life history of these pests to 
show just where the weak point in their 
lives is, for it is at this vulnerable place 
that, we must try to hit them. The time 
in the life of a wireworm at which it is 
weakest and most easily destroyed is 
when the soft, whitish, tender beetles are 
lying in their thin, frail earthen cells in 
the soil from the last of July, through 
August, September and October, on until 
the following Spring. It is during these 
months that they can be hurt the most, 
and the question is, how can it best be 
done? Of course, the wireworms have 
already done their worst aud produced 
their greatest injuries, but we are not 
concerned so much with the past. We 
are looking forward to the future and 
the prevention of losses during the years 
to come. 
Food of Wireworms.- —Another point 
in the habits of wireworms that should he 
known aud borne in mind is that they 
normally live on the roots of grasses in 
old meadows and pastures. In these sit¬ 
uations the food is so abundant that the 
work of the wireworms is seldom noticed. 
But if the grass and roots are destroyed 
by plowing, and corn is then planted on 
the sod in isolated hills or in drills, the 
wireworms, just as eager to live as we 
are, will concentrate on the scattered 
corn, where their destructive work soon 
becomes evident by the shriveled and dead 
be grown is corn followed by oats the 
next year, with wheat sown in the Fall 
and seeded with a mixture, if desired, of 
Timothy and clover, which is allowed to 
stand the fourth season. This is then 
followed by corn the next year, thus be¬ 
ginning the rotation again. With such 
a four-year rotation the land docs not 
stand in grass more than one year, which, 
together with the frequent, plowing, har¬ 
rowing and cultivation of the soil, pre¬ 
vents the wireworms from ever gettirg i. 
hold and becoming established. 
Useless Measures. — Several ears 
ago many long and exhaustive experi¬ 
ments were carried out here at the Cor¬ 
nell University Experiment Station to 
determine if there were any substances 
that could be put on the seed or iu the 
soil to kill wireworms, or to prevent th ?m 
from causing injury. All sorts of ma¬ 
terials were tried, hut nothing was found 
that proved to be of any real value. For 
example, it was definitely determined that 
in order to kill wireworms with salt it. 
“must be used at the rate of about eight 
tons to the acre, or over one per cent of 
the soil to a depth of four inches must he 
salt. This amount would be very de¬ 
structive to vegetation.” Again it was 
shown that “kainit” has but little, if any, 
effect on wireworms iu the soil, even 
when applied in very large quantities, as 
from four to nine tons per acre.” The 
experiments demonstrated that muriate of 
potash “has to be used at the rate of from 
four to six tons per acre to have any 
effect on wireworms,” and then it is not 
so effective as common salt. In experi¬ 
ments for the protection of the seed, ker¬ 
nels of corn were coated with Paris green 
and with tar, and were soaked iu solu¬ 
tions of salt, in kerosene oil, in turpen¬ 
tine, and iu a strychnine solution, but iu 
no case were the seeds effectively pro¬ 
tected from wireworms. 
Summary. —Potatoes and corn planted 
oil sod of an old pasture or meadow are 
apt to he injured by wireworms. 
Potatoes pitted and scarred bv wire- 
worms cun be planted without fear of re¬ 
infesting the soil with these insects, but 
if the tubers are too badly eaten they 
will probably not produce strong plants. 
July 17, 1920 
No substance is known with which 
seeds may be coated to protect them from 
wireworms. 
Salt, kainit, muriate of potash, nor 
any other fertilizer known to us at pres¬ 
ent will kill wireworms in the soil unless 
it is put on in such large quantities that 
it either destroys the crop or becomes 
altogether too expensive. 
Wireworms live three years aud in 
some cases longer in the soil. Normally, 
the common ones are found in old pas¬ 
tures and meadows, where they feed on 
the roots of the grasses. 
The weakest time iu their lives is while 
the soft, tender, parent beetles are lying 
in the soil during the Summer aud Fall, 
and this is the most effective time to hit 
them by plowing and disking the in¬ 
fested land, if the seriousness of the sit¬ 
uation demands such extreme measures. 
A modern four-year rotation of crops 
will eventually eliminate wireworms from 
tillable land of a farm. This is also a 
highly approved farm practice. 
Certain wireworms that live mostly in 
heavy, wet soils can probably be checked 
by the use of lime and thorough tile- 
drainage. GLENN W. HERRICK. 
Intestinal Inflammation 
I have a flock of White Leghorn chick¬ 
ens about seven weeks old. Within the 
last few days several of them have died. 
They all look sickly, and their droppings 
are bloody. Their feeif has been chick 
feed, milk mash aud oatmeal or oatflake. 
i' hat would you advise? l. w. 
New York. 
The bloody droppings indicate a high 
degree of intestinal inflammation from 
some cause which must be removed before 
recovery can be expected. Spoiled food 
of some kind is likely to be the cause of 
this inflammation, though it may result 
from bacterial action or the extension of 
a catarrhal inflammation. The food given 
should be examined with care, to see that 
it is not responsible for the diarrhoea; 
the water to which they have access 
should also be above suspicion. Intesti¬ 
nal worms may also be suspected, and the 
intestines of a dead chick should be 
opened and examined for these parasites. 
As treatment, the chicks may be given 
a cathartic dose of Epsom salts, a tea- 
spoonful to about four chicks of this age. 
dissolved in a little water aud mixed with 
a mash. After the action of the salts, 
the chicks should be lightly aud carefully 
fed until recovery, if recovery is still pos¬ 
sible. m. B. D. 
Poultry Ration; Brahmas as Layers 
1. Would you give mo a ration for 
chickens, grain and mash? 2. Will vou 
please tell me all you know about Brah¬ 
mas, Light or Dark as egg layers? 
P. D. H. 
1. Not knowing just what you mean by 
“chickens.” this term being ascribed in¬ 
discriminately to fowls of all ages from 
babyhood up, I can only assume that you 
wish a ration for laying fowls. For these, 
a grain mixture should be used of which 
coru or wheat composes one half or more. 
The balance may be made up of such 
other grains as are available; oats, bar¬ 
ley. buckwheat aud. perhaps, a little rye. 
Corn is the best single grain, and good 
results may be had when it alone consti¬ 
tutes the scratch food. Aside from this 
scratch grain, a high protein mash should 
be fed, and I know of no better formula 
for this than the following: Equal parts, 
by weight, or cornmeal. wheat bran, mid¬ 
dlings, ground oats, gluten feed aud beef 
scrap. . Some of the best poultry feeding 
authorities prescribe the above formula 
with the gluten feed omitted, making it 
consist of ono-fifth part beef scrap. 
2. I know hut little about the Brahmas, 
having never kept them. They do not be¬ 
long in ihe strictly egg-producing class of 
fowls, however, being better adapted to 
the production of meat. According to a 
bulletin from the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture which lies before me, 
and, I am sure, to me, the Light Brahmas 
will average an egg pro 1 action of from 12 
to 13 dozen yearly. That is certainly 
“going some” when the egg machines, the 
Leghorns, are believed to average not 
moro than nine or 10 dozen egg- yearly. 
Tf I were contemplating raising Brahmas 
for eggs, I should revise the Department 
of Agriculture’s estimate down with a 
strong aud ponderous hand. M. R. D. 
Ailing Chicks 
I am raising chickens this year for my 
father. I have some about two weeks old, 
and a couple of them seem crazy. Their 
heads and their wings hang down; they 
eat and drink and seem to grow, but after 
they eat they are worse. I have lost some 
from this. T am feeding them chick feed 
and sour milk as a drink. Twice a week 
T give them cornmeal aud condition pow¬ 
der. M. E. s. 
New York. 
This may he a case 'of mild ptomaine 
poisoning from eating spoiled food of some 
kind, or it may be due to irritation of 
nerve centers from the presence of intes¬ 
tinal worms. Iu either case a physic will 
do good. Give one or two teaspoons of 
castor oil and repeat the dose if the first 
is not effectual. If worms are suspected, 
a teaspoon of spirits of turpentine should 
precede the castor oil. or be given with it. 
Look to the quality of the food given, and 
see to it that the chickens have not access 
to dead rats or other decaying flesh. 
m. u. 1). 
