The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1203 
Questions  About  Insects 
Answered  by  Prof.  Glenn  W.  Herrick 
-  .  . -  ...  
The  Evergreen  Bag-worm 
Will  you  give  me  the  name,  history 
and  cure  for  caterpillars  that  make  little 
bags  in  which  they  live?  They  are  eat¬ 
ing  our  cherry  trees.  c.  c.  s. 
Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
The  insects  injuring  the  cherry  trees 
of  C.  C.  S.  are  the  common  evergreen 
bagworms,  so-called  because  they  are 
partial  to  cedar  and  arbor-vitse,  although 
they  attack  many  other  kinds  of  trees. 
The  caterpillars  of  this  moth,  soon  after 
hatching  from  the  eggs,  begin  to  build 
tiny  bags  out  of  bits  of  leaves  which 
they  tie  together  with  silk.  The  cater¬ 
pillars  live  in  these  bags  their  whole  lives 
through.  A  caterpillar,  after  its  bag  is 
once  made,  never  leaves  its  house,  but 
carries  it  about  wherever  the  occupant 
goes. 
On  individual  trees  the  bagworms  may 
be  picked  off  by  hand  and  then  destroyed. 
The  writer  has  picked  neafly  a  half 
bushel  from  a  small  arbor-vita;  tree,  and 
this  one  picking  protected  the  tree  for 
several  seasons  before  it  became  badly 
infested  again. 
On  cherry  and  other  fruit  trees  the 
pest  may  be  destroyed  by  spraying  with 
a  strong  poison  mixture,  for  the  cater¬ 
pillar  chew  and  swallow  bits  of  the 
leaves  of  the  infested  trees.  Four  pounds 
of  powdered  arsenate  of  lead  in  100  gal¬ 
lons  of  water,  or  an  ounce  of  the  poison 
in  a  gallon  for  small  doses  will  be  ef¬ 
fectual.  The  trees  may  have  to  be 
sprayed  twice  about  10  days  apart. 
White  Grubs  and  European  Corn  Borer 
I  have  a  sod  orchard  of  seven  or  eight 
years’  growth.  I  used  nitrate  of  soda 
early  this  Spring  around  my  trees  and 
got  good  results  in  increased  growth  of 
grass,  foliage  .and  fruit,  but  on  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  grass  some  spots  are  en¬ 
tirely  dead,  and  on  turning  up  the  sod  I 
find  large  numbers  of  white  worms  or 
grubs.  What  remedy,  if  any,  can  be 
used?  Would  also  like  to  know  how  to 
tell  the  corn-borer,  what  lays  the  eggs, 
and  where  to  look  for  them  on  the  stalks. 
Assinippi,  Mass.  K.  A.  F. 
Probably  the  areas  of  grass  in  the  or¬ 
chard  of  It.  A.  F.  are  being  killed  by  the 
common  white  grubs  of  May  beetles,  or 
June  bugs.  By  plowing  and  thoroughly 
disking  the  areas  many  of  the  grubs  will 
be  destroyed.  I  presume,  however,  that 
the  grubs  are  nearly  grown,  and  that 
they  will  change  to  beetles  during  Au¬ 
gust  and  thus  their  destructive  work  will 
be  at  an  end. 
The  European  corn-borer  moth  lays  its 
eggs  in  masses  from  15  to  20  or  more, 
mostly  on  'the  undersides  of  the  leaves  of 
corn,  although  they  may  be  placed  on  the 
upper  sides  of  the  leaves,  and  occasional¬ 
ly  on  the  stems.  The  borer  is  a  light 
brown  to  dark  brown  to  pinkish  cater¬ 
pillar,  about  1  in.  long  when  grown.  It 
works  in  the  stalks  and  ears  of  the  plant. 
Many  of  them  bore  into  the  stalk  just  be: 
low  the  tassel  which  weakens  the  stem 
at  that  point,  and  the  tassel  falls  over. 
Others  bore  inside  of  the  stem  almost 
anywhere  along  its  length.  At  intervals, 
the  borers  eat  tiny  circular  holes  in  the 
walls  of  the  stalk,  and  through  these  they 
thrust  out  small  piles  of  sawdust-like  ma¬ 
terial  which  are  plainly  seen  along  the 
stalk.  The  ears  are  entered  through  the 
“shank,”  or  directly  through  the  husks 
and  silk.  Here  the  borers  feed  on  the 
kernels  and  tunnel  through  the  cob. 
■•It  is  not,  however,  easy  to  tell  this 
borer  from  the  common  corn  earworm. 
Tt  will  probably  be  best  to  send  any  sus¬ 
picious-looking  caterpillars  boring  in  your 
corn  to  your  State  entomologist  and  let 
him  examine  them.  Such  insects  should 
always  be  sent  in  a  tight  tin  or  wooden 
h  >x  so  that  they  will  npt  escape  or  be 
crushed  in  the  mails. 
Fall-sown  Sweet  Peas 
On  page  1144,  C.  R.,  Ontario  Co.,  N. 
Y..  asks  a  plain  question  about  the  pos¬ 
sibility  of  getting  sweet  peas  earlier  in 
the  Spring  by  sowing  them  now.  II.  E. 
Cox  writes  nearly  a  column  in  reply,  but 
does  not  answer  the  question.  Sweet  pea 
growers  here  plant  their  seed  in  August 
or  September  and  get  a  growth  of  six 
inches  to  a  foot  before  cold  weather.  They 
lay  these  vines  down  and  protect  them 
with  brush.  In  the  Spring — early — the 
•brush  is  removed  and  the  vines  are  found 
alive  and  healthy;  promptly  start  climb¬ 
ing.  and  produce  blossoms  before  the 
Spring-planted  .vines  come  out  of  the 
ground.  JOHN  F.  keenan. 
Maryland. 
The  teacher  had  been  telling  her  class 
about  the  rhinoceros  family.  “Now  name 
some  things,”  she  said,  “that  are  very 
dangerous  to  be  near  to,  and  have  horns.” 
“Motor  cars.”  promptly  answered  six 
children  at  once. — Cincinnati  Enquirer. 
for  Economical  Transportation 
New  Low 
rices 
Effective  September  1,  1923 
Superior  Roadster . $490 
Superior  Touring  -  -  -  -  -  495 
Superior  Utility  Coupe  -  -  -  640 
Superior  Sedan  -----  795 
■  ,~f.  1 
Superior  Commercial  Chassis  -  395 
■Bata 
Superior  Light  Delivery  -  -  -  495 
Utility  Express  Truck  Chassis  -  550 
All  prices  /.  o.  b .  Flint ,  Mich. 
Quality  Cars  at  Quantity  Prices 
These  very  low  prices  are  made  possible  through 
large  volume  production  and  are  in  conformity 
with  our  fixed  policy  of  providing  the  utmost 
per  dollar  value  in  economical  transportation. 
Chevrolet  Motor  Co.,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Division  of  Qeneral  Motors  Corporation 
Superior 
2-Pass.  Utility 
Coupe  NOW 
$640 
f.  o.  b.  Flint,  Mich. 
