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smooth, shining surface, varying in color from yellowish to reddish-brown. They pupate in July and August, and transform to beetles three or four weeks later. The beetles remain in the soil and emerge the following spring. Eggs are then laid in the earth in grass land, where they soon hatch, the larvae requiring at least two years to become fully grown. The larvae are very destructive by attacking the seed in the ground before it is sprouted, and also by eating and boring the roots and stems of the young growing plant. The injury is likely to be greater the second year, after sod has been broken up. All cereal crops may be attacked. No successful remedy has yet been proposed, although fall plowing is believed to be helpful. When replanting injured maize it is customary to put the new seed between the attacked rows, which are left to stand as a food supply until cultivation becomes necessary.

Beetle and larva of wireworm, enlarged two times. (After Forbes.)

329. CUTWORMS.-There are at least fourteen distinct species of moths whose larvae have the cutworm habit. The life history of the different species, of course, varies somewhat, but in general their injuries and treatment are substantially the same. The moths lay their eggs upon the leaves of grasses in meadows and pastures and the larvae feed upon the growing vegetation. The fully grown cutworm is one and one-quarter inches to two inches long and varies in color with the species from dull brown to gray or green and is variously marked with longitudinal or oblique stripes and dashes and dots. The moths lay their eggs during midsummer and partially grown larvae pass the winter in the ground. Thus when grass lands, especially of long standing, are plowed up and planted to maize, the cutworms, being deprived of other vegetation, attack the young maize plants when only a few inches high, cutting them off just above the ground. The larvae pupate during late spring and summer, some species on the fortieth parallel as early as the fourth week in May, thus permitting late planted maize to escape their attacks. Late fall plowing is measurably effective by disturbing and exposing the worms and by destroying the food on which they would feed during spring. They may also be poisoned by a mixture of wheat bran, forty pounds; molasses, two quarts; paris green, one pound, mixed with enough water to moisten. A tablespoon of this mixture placed near each hill will attract the cutworms and prove fatal.

White grub, about natural size. (After Forbes.)

330. WHITE GRUBS.-White grubs are the larvae of May beetles or June bugs, of which a number of species are known to attack maize. The beetles lay their eggs mostly during June in the earth, commonly in grass lands but not infrequently in maize land also. The eggs hatch in ten to eighteen days and the grubs are supposed to live over two full years, the complete life cycle being three years. White grubs do their injury by feeding upon the roots of the young maize plant, sometimes causing immediate destruction,

In other cases causing prolonged and a more or less partial injury. These grubs are also extremely destructive to grass lands, in some cases causing complete destruction of the sod. The adult beetles also frequently cause considerable injury by feeding upon the leaves of deciduous trees. No thoroughly satisfactory remedy has yet been proposed for this insect.

331. CORN ROOT WORMS.-There are two species: the western corn root worm and the southern corn root worm. The larva of the western corn root worm is two-fifths of an inch long, about as large as a pin, body somewhat cylindrical, colorless, except the head, top of the first segment and a little patch on the last segment of the body, which are yellowish-brown. The injury is done by the larva, chiefly during July and August, by beginning in the tip of the maize root and working towards the plant, devouring the inner portion of the root as it goes. It pupates in the earth among or near the roots of maize. The pupae emerge in August or September as grass-green beetles about one-fifth of an inch long and half as wide. The beetles feed upon the pollen, silks and in some cases upon the soft grains at the top of the ear, but usually the injury done by the beetle is trivial. The beetle lays clusters of five to a dozen dirty-white eggs one-fortieth of an inch long in the ground, one inch to six inches deep, about the maize plant during October and November. Only the eggs survive the winter, hatching in May and June. The southern corn root worm is distinguished by the beetle being larger and having three transverse rows of four black spots on the wing covers. Since the larvae of these two species have no other host plant and since the eggs are usually laid about the hills of maize plants, a rotation of crops furnishes a simple and effective remedy for these insects. It is likewise destructive only in those sections where maize is cultivated on the same land several years in succession.

Western corn root worm, enlarged three times. (After Forbes.)

332. CORN Root Web-Worms. They are the larvae of at least five species of moths which lay their eggs among the grass in the summer, the larvae passing the winter in a half-grown condition. They attack the young maize plant just above ground, and when not at work they remain in a silken web just underneath the ground at the base of the plant. The fully grown larva is about half an inch long, somewhat hairy, varying in color from brown to dirty white. They pupate about June first, on the fortieth parallel. They may also attack oats.1 Their injuries to maize may be avoided by late planting. Ordinarily, injury is to be expected only where maize follows grass; the longer the land has been in grass the greater the danger.

333. CORN ROOT LOUSE.-All plant lice are enormously prolific. During the summer the wingless females of the corn root louse reproduce continuously, without the intervention of the males, living young which, when a few days old, also begin to multiply. Winged females appear from time to time and establish new colonies, while in the fall large numbers of individuals of both sexes appear. Generally the last brood lays eggs from which the spring brood is produced. Ants apparently

1 Ohio Bul. 68, p. 48.

protect and care for the plant-lice in return for their secretions which they consume They are held in check by carnivorous and parasitic insects. The corn root louse does its greatest injury to the young maize plant during May and June, causing the

Corn root louse on the left and its caretaker, the ant, on the right, both enlarged. (After Forbes.)

plant to wither and die by sucking its juices. Usually these attacks are in spots throughout the field and are likely to be most injurious during unfavorable weather conditions. The injury done by these insects is variable and fitful, owing, doubtless, to their great prolificacy and the enemies which keep them in check, so that remedial measures are usually of slight avail. The corn plant louse (Aphis maidis) attacks the plant above ground, but it appears to be less injurious than the corn root louse, whose attacks are confined to the roots.

334. CORN BILL BUGS.-Several species of bill bugs are known to be injurious to maize. The adults are black beetles one-fourth to three-fourths inch long, which do their damage by puncturing the stalks and the young leaves of maize as they are unfolding. Eggs are usually laid during the spring and summer and reach the pupal stage in about one month. In some species the larvae live in the interior of the stalk, bulb or roots of small grain or timothy, and in other cases in the maize plant itself. They pass the winter in the adult form. The damage is generally comparatively slight. There is no specific remedy.

335. CORN EAR-WORM.-The larva, one and one-half inches long, varies in color from pale green to dark brown, is marked with longitudinal stripes of the same color, with eight round shining black spots on each segment of the body from which arise short hairs; the head and neck are brown. It is two to seven-brooded, depending upon the latitude. The last brood passes the winter in the pupal stage, emerging as a moth in the spring. In the Northern States the most destructive brood lays its eggs in the silk when the ears are young, and the larvae feed upon the grains at the tip of the ear, often doing great damage, not alone on account of the grain actually eaten, but also through subsequent decay by access of moisture and through destruction due to other insects. In the Southern States the earlier broods are also destructive by feeding upon the leaves and stalks. This insect is injurious to cotton by feeding upon the bolls; hence is known as the boll worm. Disturbance of the pupa by late fall plowing or early spring plowing appears to be of some value, although no remedy has been found which is entirely efficient.

336. STALK BORERS.-There are at least three species of insects which injure maize by boring in the stem, although they are often equally injurious to other plants, including weeds; namely, the stalk borer (Gortyna nitela Guen.), the smaller stalk borer (Pempelia lignosella Zeller) and the larger stalk borer (Diatraea saccharalis Fab.). The most serious injury is usually done by the latter, which in the South Atlantic States occasionally amounts to twenty-five to fifty per cent of the crop. 1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. Ent. Cir. 16, 2d Ser.

The larva is three-fourths inch long, white and marked with dark brown spots. It bores the stalks of young maize, seriously injuring it, and later bores into older stems, working down into the tap root, and passes the winter in the pupal stage in a channel about the surface of the ground or a little below. The moth issues in the spring, soon to lay eggs near the base of the leaves. It also attacks sugar cane and sorghum, as well as gama or sesame grass (Tripsacum dactyloides), and consequently is more likely to be a dangerous pest near swampy lands, where this grass grows. Clean culture and systematic rotation of crops is a fairly effective remedy.

OTHER ENEMIES.

337. THE CROW.-In many sections, especially where maize is planted near clumps of timber, the American crow (Corvus Americanus And.) pulls up and eats the young plant, often causing considerable damage. Most of the preventive measures recommended have for their basis methods of frightening the crows away until the plants are large enough to resist their attacks. Among these measures are the simple scarecrow, trapping the birds alive and keeping them tied in the field, and poisoning a few with maize grain soaked in strychnine as a warning. Coating the seed slightly with coal tar is sometimes quite effective. This may be done by dipping a wooden paddle into the hot liquid and then stirring it rapidly among the maize grains. There is some danger of decreasing the germination. It is generally conceded that except for this annual depredation the crow is useful to agriculture as a destroyer of insect pests.

338. THE AMERICAN BLACKBIRD (Agelaius phoeniceus Linn.) occasionally does somewhat serious damage by feeding upon grain while it is still soft.

339. THE STRIPed Prairie Squirrel (Spermophilus 13-lineatus), especially in sections from Illinois westward, frequently makes replanting necessary by digging up and consuming the sprouting grain. Gillette has shown that injurious insects constitute a large proportion of its food. It is believed that these squirrels are not only beneficial to meadows and pastures, but to subsequent maize crops, because of their destruction of cutworms, wireworms, web-worms and similar insects.

XVI.

MAIZE.

1. HARVESTING AND PRESERVATION.

340. Harvesting. Although there has been considerable progress in the harvesting of maize, no such profound changes have been made as those noted in the harvesting of the small grains. The larger part of the crop is still husked by hand. from the standing plant and cattle allowed to roam over the husked fields to pick up neglected ears and nubbins, and to

Maize harvester and shocker; shock is

next round.

feed upon the leaves and husks. Attempts to husk the standing maize by machinery have not met with success.

341. Storing.-After being husked, the ears of maize are stored in ventilated (slatted) bins, called cribs, in order that the excess of moisture may evaporate

built upon the platform by the ma- before the grain is shelled. (233) chine, after which it is raised by the While on the ear, the grain is not derrick and placed upon the ground, out of the way of the machine on its readily injured for feeding purposes by exposure to atmospheric conditions, but when shelled is subject to heating and molding, if not thoroughly air-dry. A difference of two per cent in moisture content may materially influence the keeping quality of the shelled grain.

When maize is stored in the ear, it is particularly subject to attacks from rats and mice because of the facility with which these vermin may pass between the ears. Special precautions

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