The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Questions  About  Insects 
Answered  by  Prof.  Glenn  W.  Herrick 
Earthworms  in  Window  Boxes 
I  am  an  enthusiastic  reader  of  your 
paper,  although  my  “farm”  consists  of 
some  window  boxes.  There  are  enormous 
worms,  some  about  6  in.  long,  in  the 
boxes.  I  cannot  always  get  them  out. 
What  can  I  use  to  rid  the  boxes  of  them? 
New  York.  a.  n.  c. 
No  doubt  the  large  worms  referred  to 
by  A.  N.  C.  are  common  earthworms,  or 
angleworms.  In  the  first  place,  we  ought 
to  say  that  the  earthworms  in  the  window 
boxes  are  not  harmful  to  the  plants,  al¬ 
though  they  may  be  somewhat  annoying 
to  the  owner.  They  live  upon  the  decay¬ 
ing  vegetable  matter  which  they  find  in 
the  rich  earth  in  the  boxes,  and  the  rich¬ 
ness  of  the  soil  probably  accounts  for 
their  large  size. 
One  way  to  have  prevented  them  from 
ever  having  got  into  the  boxes  would 
have  been  to  have  sifted  the  soil  and 
thrown  out  all  of  them  in  the  beginning. 
Now  that  the  worms  are  present  there  is 
not  much  to  do  except  to  remove  each 
one  as  it  is  found.  Golf  links  are  some¬ 
times  treated  with  bichloride  of  mercury 
to  kill  earthworms,  especially  on  the 
greens.  It  is  used  at  the  rate  of  one 
ounce  to  >10  gallons  of  water,  or  about 
one  grain  to  a  gallon  of  water.  I  am  not 
sure,  however,  whether  this  solution 
would  injure  the  plants  in  the  boxes  or 
not.  I  would  advise  using  it  on  a  part  of 
the  box,  and  a  little  at  a  time,  to  see 
what  effect  it  has  on  the  plants.  Bichlor¬ 
ide  of  mercury  is  a  violent  poison  and 
great  care  should  be  exercised  in  using  it. 
It  should  be  kept  away  from  children, 
and  put  iu  a  tight  bottle  with  a  very 
plain  label.  glenn  w.  herrick. 
The  Golden  Tortoise  Beetle 
I  am  sending  two  small  beetles  for 
identification.  Last  year  they  riddled 
my  morning-glories.  First  I  thought  that 
they  were  ladybugs.  Some  appear  to  be 
reddish  and  others  bright  as  gold.  I 
think  that  they  lay  eggs  from  which 
hatches  a  peculiar  slug,  black  in  color, 
with  a  proportionately  large  head  or  tail, 
triangular  in  shape,  which  is  raised  when 
disturbed.  AVliat  can  I  use?  I  have  a 
number  of  children  and  want  to  be  care¬ 
ful.  Would  lime  or  some  form  of  nico¬ 
tine  solution  do?  h.  a.  e. 
Malden,  Mass. 
Plants  of  the  morning-glory  family, 
among  which  are  sweet  potato,  bindweed, 
man-of-tlie-earth  and  common  morning- 
glory,  are  the  hosts  of  .several  species  of 
attractive  and  interesting  beetles  known 
as  “tortoise  beetles,”  the  larvae  or  grubs 
of  which  are  called  “peddlers.”  The 
beetles  are  often  brightly  colored,  and 
some  of  them  shine  like  gold  while  they 
are  active  and  happy  with  their  family 
on  a  savory  morning-glory  vine,  but  the 
golden  hues  fade  away  and  become  lost 
when  the  activities  of  the  insects  cease 
with  death. 
The  body  of  a  tortoise  beetle,  which  is 
almost  circular  in  same  cases,  but  oval 
in  others,  is  flattened  below  and  convex 
above.  Moreover,  the  margins  of  the 
body  all  the  way  around  project  outward 
in  a  thin  expansion  which  almost  com¬ 
pletely  hides  the  legs,  and  appears  like  a 
shell  covering  the  insect,  making  it  look 
like  a  miniature  turtle  or  tortoise.  The 
'larva  or  grub  of  these  beetles  is  a 
ridiculous  creature,  for  it  has  at  the  pos¬ 
terior  end  of  the  body  a  two-tined  fork¬ 
like  appendage  which  it  carries  bent  over 
the  back,  pointing  toward  the  head  ;  and 
on  the  tines  of  this  fork  it  places  the 
cast  skins  which  it  has  shed  during  its 
life,  together  with  other  cast-off  debris, 
the  whole  serving  as  a  sort  of  parasol. 
But  of  what  use  can  such  an  absurd 
umbrella  be  to  this  tiny  insect?  Can  it 
be  that  it  thinks  itself  safely  hidden  be¬ 
neath  such  a  conspicuous  covering?  If 
so.  it  is  about  as  foolish  as  the  ostrich, 
which  is  said  to  tuck  its  head  in  the 
sand  and  leave  its  big  body  outside.  Hu¬ 
mans  have  laughed  at  it  and  called  it  the 
“peddler”  because  of  the  seeming  pack  it 
carries  on  its  back. 
The  golden  tortoise  does  lay  its  eggs  on 
rhe  morning-glory,  and  these  eggs  do 
hatch  into  the  peculiar  larvae  which  H. 
A.  C.  describes.  Moreover,  these  larvae 
eat  the  leaves  and  riddle  them  with  holes, 
but  arsenate  of  lead  will  poison  them, 
much  as  I  hate  to  sec  the  interesting 
creatures  killed.  If  II.  A.  C.  is  really 
heartless  toward  these  little  rascals,  he 
can  spray  the  vines  with  powdered  arsen¬ 
ate  of  lead  at  the  rate  of  a  teaspoonful 
to  a  gallon  of  water,  with  a  little  soap 
added  to  make  the  mixture  stick  to  the 
leaves.  glenn  w.  herrick. 
Sod  Webworms  Destroying  Corn 
Can  you  tell  me  something  about  the 
worm  that  has  just  devoured  a  three-acre 
piece  of  corn  for  me?  About  June  1  I 
planted  the  piece,  and  when  corn  was 
about  3  or  4  in.  high  the  worms  attacked 
in  center  of  piece,  and  in  three  days  had 
cleaned  the  piece.  The  worms  are  about 
1/2  in.  long  and  1/32  in.  in  diameter, 
gray  and  a  copper  head  and  very  spry, 
They  seem  to  commence  in  seed  and  work 
up  center  of  stalk  and  come  out  when 
just  below.  surface  of  ground,  and  chew 
till.  corn  is  dead,  several  in  each  hill. 
This  field  was  manured  direct  from  cow 
stable  this  Spring,  and  a  few  loads  of 
horse.  manure,  and  plowed  just  before 
planting.  Seed  was  .  grown  by  man  10 
miles  from  here.  Soil  is  gravelly  excel¬ 
lent  corn  ground.  Did  these  worms  come 
from  seed,  manure  or  soil?  Do  they  at¬ 
tack  other  crops'?  Will  it  be  safe  to  plant 
this  field  to  beans  next  year?  The  field 
had  been  mowed  two  years  and  pastured 
_two  years.  Heretofore  my  only  corn 
pests  have  been  ants,  crows  and  black¬ 
birds,  but  I  seem  to  have  an  addition  that 
has  them  all  beaten.  •  f.  v.  k. 
Lacona,  N.  Y. 
As  the  name  indicates,  these  insects 
are  grass  feeders,  and  are  usually  found 
in  sod  land,  old  meadows  and  pastures, 
where  their  work  is  only  occasionally 
conspicuous.  Sometimes  they  are  abund¬ 
ant  enough  in  meadows  to  destroy  the 
grass  over  considerable  areas,  and  -  to 
cause  much  damage  to  the  hay  crop.  It 
is  when  meadows,  in  which  these  insects 
are  abundant,  are  plowed  and  planted  to 
corn  that  the  injury  and  damage  become 
particularly  noticeable  and  serious ;  and 
just  this  has  happened  in  the  case  of  F. 
V.  K.  with  his  corn. 
The  parent  insects  of  these  sod  web¬ 
worms  are  whitish  or  grayish  moths  com¬ 
mon  in  meadows  and  pastures  every¬ 
where.  They  fly  up  in  front  of  one  when 
one  is  walking  through  the  grass.  Their 
flight  is  sudden,  rather  zigzag,  and  short 
in  duration,  for  the  moths  soon  settle 
again  among  the  grass  stems.  The  moths 
drop  their  eggs  among  the  grass,  where 
they  hatch,  and  the  small  caterpillars 
live  over  the  Winter  partly  grown.  In 
the  Spring  the  caterpillars  are  very  hun¬ 
gry,  grow  fast  and  cause  much  damage 
when  they  are  numerous  enough,  but  by 
the  latter  part  of  June  their  work  is 
done,  for  their  growth  is  completed,  and 
they  soon  change  to  the  grayish  moths. 
F.  V.  K.  has  described  the  webworms 
and  their  habits  of  injury  very  well,  ex¬ 
cept  that  he  fails  to  mention  the  silken 
tubes  that  the  webworms  spin  at  the  base 
of  the  corn  plant  among  the  grains  of 
soil.  It  is  this  habit  that  gives  them  the 
name  webworms,  They  did  not  come 
from  the  seed  or  from  the  manure,  but 
were  in  the  sod  land  of  the  pasture  before 
the  latter  was  plowed. 
It  is  too  late  to  do  anything  with  the 
webworms  this  year,  but  if  F.  Y.  K. 
plants  beans  next  year  he  will  not  be 
troubled  with  them.  Moreover,  if  he 
does  not  allow  his  meadows  to  stand  too 
long  in  grass,  the  webworms  will  not  bo 
able  to  get  a  strong  foothold.  It  is  not 
safe  to  follow  old  sod  land  with  corn, 
because  injury  is  liable  to  result  from 
the  work  of  sod  worms,  white  grubs  and 
wireworms.  A  modern  three-year  or  four- 
year  rotation  of  corn,  wheat  and  clover 
is  the  safest  way  of  preventing  ravages 
by  these  three  great  grass  pests,  the  tri¬ 
umvirate  of  cereal  pests  in  New  York 
State.  GLENN  W.  HERRICK. 
Can  We  Poison  Moles? 
I  have  kept  my  garden  fairly  free  of 
ground  moles  with  poisoned  corn.  I  put 
as  much  strychnine  as  would  cover  the 
end  of  my  knife  blade  for  one-half  inch 
into  a  pint  of  water.  Pour  this  into  a 
glass  jar  and  put  in  a  handful  of  corn. 
Let  it  stand  until  the  corn  begins  to 
swell,  then  go  into  the  garden,  and  where- 
ever  you  see  the  trace  of  a  mole,  drive 
the  end  of  your  hoe  handle  through  the 
ridge  of  earth  the  moles  makes  and  drop 
in  two  or  three  grains  of  corn,  and  cover 
the  opening  left  by  a  stroke  of  your  foot. 
You  say  moles  don’t  eat  much  vege¬ 
table  food,  yet  they  will  destroy  a  patch 
of  sweet  corn  in  a  day.  They  did  it  for 
me  this  very  season.  When  I  use  the 
poisoned  corn  they  no  longer  disturb  my 
plants.  I  can’t  say  they  eat  the  corn,  be¬ 
cause  I  never  find  a  dead  mole,  but  I  do 
know  the  poisoned  corn  administered  as 
above  stated  stops’  the  mole  working  in 
my  garden.  .toxin  Montgomery,  jr. 
Missouri. 
It.  N.-Y. — Most  reports  agree  that  the 
mole  rarely  eats  vegetable  food,  but  oc¬ 
casionally  _  we  have  statements  like  the 
above.  We  would  like  all  the  experience 
possible  regarding  the  mole’s  feeding 
habits. 
Treatment  of  Rhododendrons 
We  have  some  Rhododendron  which 
look  healthy  and  have  a  good  growth  of 
new  leaves  each  year,  but  have  had  only 
an  occasional  flower  in  the  15  years  since 
they  were  planted.  They  are  along  the 
front  of  the  porch  and  I  have  made  a 
practice  of  cleaning  up  all  leaves,  etc., 
from  underneath  them  every  Spring,  thus 
possibly  depriving  them  of  needed  humus. 
Would  acid  phosphate  have  a  tendency 
to  stimulate  flowering?  f,  s.  d. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
A  position  near  buildings,  where  the 
plants  would  be  somewhat  sheltered  from 
rain,  or  overdrained  by  cellar  walls,  is 
not  desirable  for  Rhododendrons.  An 
abundant  water  supply  is  needed,  and 
in  your  case  the  removal  of  the  natural 
mulch  of  fallen  leaves  would  add  to  the 
dryness.  The  ground  should  be  mulched 
with  leaves  both  Summer  and  Winter  to 
conserve  moisture,  and  in  Summer  plenty 
of  water  should  be  applied  when  the 
weather  is  hot  and  dry.  If  there  are 
large  trees  near  they  are  also  likely  to 
rob  the  Rhododendrons  of  moisture. 
When  planting,  the  soil  should  be  deep 
and  fine,  well  prepared  with  peat,  leaf 
mold  and  well-rotted  old  manure,  which 
will  help  to  retain  moisture.  Close  plant¬ 
ing  is  an  advantage  when  young,  as  it 
helps  to  retain  moisture  bv  shading  the 
ground.  It  is  likely  that  the  soil  in  this 
case  was  not  very  congenial  in  the  first 
place,  and  the  bare  ground  has  been  an 
added  disadvantage.  Abundant  mulch  and 
plenty  of  wafer  should  improve  condi¬ 
tions. 
975 
Feed  Hoppers  for  Range  Chicks 
Tell  us  how  the  large  poultrymen,  who 
keeps  many  chicks  on  range,  feed  their 
birds  so  as  to  keep  mash  before  them, 
and  avoid  crowding  and  loss  of  food. 
What  is  the  best  self-feeder  for  this  pur¬ 
pose?  M.  L. 
The  method  of  feeding  mash  that  seems 
to  be  generally  used  iu  this  section  is  an 
open  box,  kept  full  of  mash  and  covered 
with  a  piece  of  one-inch  mesh  wire,  cut 
just  to  fit  the  top  of  the  box.  On  our 
range  we  use  a  box  about  2  ft.  by  iy2  ft. 
by  5  in.  This  box  is  filled  right  up  to 
the  top  and  covered  with  inch  mesh  wire, 
laid  on  top  of  the  mash.  It  is  necessary 
to  keep  the  box  wrell  filled  at  all  times,  or 
the  birds  will  get  in  and  kill  each  other. 
We  know  of  no  other  hopper  that  is  so 
cheap  to  construct  and  so  easy  to  tend  to 
as  this  one.  We  find  that  if  the  birds  get 
the  proper  amount  of  grain  at  the  same 
time  each  day  that  this  method  of  feed¬ 
ing  mash  is  neither  wasteful  nor  is  the 
mash  spoiled.  We  consider  it  satisfac¬ 
tory.  .  A.  L.  CAUSSE,  JR. 
New  Jersey. 
'We  raise  about  5,000  chicks  each  year, 
and  have  tried  about  all  the  hoppers  that 
are  on  the  market.  We  have  finally  fig¬ 
ured  out  a  way  in  which  no  mash  is  wast¬ 
ed.  What  we  use  on  range,  for  chicks 
from  four  weeks  up  until  they  are  placed 
in  the  laying  houses  in  the  Fall,  are  boxes 
arranged  in  an  open  shed  that  is  10  to  12 
ft.  square.  We  use  one  shed  for  every 
five  or  six  colony  houses.  This  shed  is 
open  on  all  sides,  and  water  cans,  grit 
boxes  and  mash  boxes  are  kept  under  this 
shed.  The  mash  boxes  are  made  of  inch 
lumber  about  2  ft.  wide  and  3  ft.  long. 
One,  two  or  three  boxes  are  placed  under 
a  shed  according  to  the  number  of  birds 
present.  These  boxes  are  6  in.  deep,  and 
the  mash  is  put  in  every  morning.  On 
top  of  the  mash  we  use  1-in.  mesh  poultry 
wire.  To  stiffen  this' wire  we  weave  two 
or  three  heavy  wires,  or  in.  iron  rods, 
through.  Of  course  the  chickens  get  into 
this  to  eat,  but  we  find  they  do  not  dirty 
it  to  any  extent,  and  they  cannot 
waste  it. 
For  little  chicks  around  the  hover  we 
use  similar  boxes,  only  on  a  much  smaller 
scale,  and  use  %-in.  mesh  wire.  This 
plan  has  proved  to  be  the  most  satisfac¬ 
tory  of  any  plan  we  have  tried.  The 
shed  roof  should  not  be  too  high.  If  it 
was,  it  would  rain  in  under  and  get  into 
the  mash.  n.  d.  bottum. 
Massachusetts. 
We  start  our  chicks  with  troughs  made 
of  6-in.  square-edge  siding,  with  a  plas¬ 
tering  lath  fastened  on  each  side.  For 
convenience  these  are  made  4  ft.  long. 
The  chicks  can  get  right  in  the  feed  and 
seem  to  like  to  scratch  and  eat.  When 
they  are  three  or  four  weeks  old  we  use 
Middle  Board  is  Sharpened  to  Chicks  do 
Not  Iloose  on  It 
the  same  piece  for  the  bottom  of  the 
trough  and  use  a  strip  3  in.  high  for  the 
sides. 
When  birds  are  about  eight  weeks  old, 
use  a  trough  made  as  per  diagram  ;  an 
8-iu.  board  for  the  bottom  and  two  4-in. 
pieces  for  the  sides  and  a  4-in.  piece  for 
the  center  board.  Of  course  they  can  be 
made  any  length.  We  find  that  it  is 
more  satisfactory  to  use  a  trough  of  this 
character  than  self-feeders.  There  is  no 
waste,  and  if  enough  are  used  they  only 
require  filling  once  a  day. 
New  Jersey.  dembro  poultry  farm. 
A  certain  automobile  manufacturer 
claimed  to  have  put  a  car  together  in 
seven  minutes.  A  few  weeks  after  this 
event  was  heralded  in  the  newspapers,  a 
voice  on  the  telephone  asked :  “Is  it  true 
that  your  factory  put  a  car  together  in 
seven  minutes?”  “Yes.  Why?”  “Oh. 
nothing.  But  I  believe  I  have  the  car.” 
— Southern  Telephone  News  (Atlanta, 
Ga. ) . 
