CORN The principal enemies of corn are the bollworm (9 v.), chinch-bug, cut-worms and certain caterpillars which bore in the stalks. In the Central and Southern States, notably' in Kentucky and in southern Illinois, the cotton-boll worm in cer tain years has attacked the corn in the ear, eat ing the silk and afterward devouring the ter minal kernels, hiding within the husk. Whole fields have thus suffered in these States, where there are two broods of the worm, the early and also the late corn faring the worst.
caterpillars are the most insidious pests in fields when the young corn. begins to sprout. One species out of many is called the corn cut-worm. It is the young of the Clandestine moth (Noctua clandesttna) While the fully grown caterpillar has not.been described, the young are more or less distinctly marked above with pale and dark stripes, and are uniformly paler below. When first hatched they feed on the corn, descending, when half grown, into the ground on the approach of. severe frosts, and reappearing in the sPnwgi"a then beginning to grow again, attaining their full size and pupating before the middle of July, often much earlier, so that in the New ng land States the moth is seen from the middle of June to the middle or end of August, during which time it lays its eggs. Remedies: before planting, the seed corn should be soaked in cop peras water, and late in the autumn corn land should be plowed deeply, so as to turn up the half-grown worms, and expose them to the winter cold and to the attacks of insect-eating birds. Cut-worms may be• trapped into holes made by a stake in corn-hills. Riley advises dropping between the rows of corn at nightfall bundles of fresh-cut grass or clover, etc., which has been sprinkled with Paris-green or London purple solution.
The spindle-worm is a caterpillar nearly an inch long, smooth and naked, with the head and last segment of the body black. It bores into the stalk before the corn spindles and makes the leaves wither. The ravages of this worm begin while the cornstalk is young and before the spindle rises much above the tuft of leaves containing it. On examination a small hole may be seen in the side of the leafy stalk, near the ground, penetrating into the soft centre of the stalk. The obvious remedy is to cut open the stalk, and on finding the worm to pull up all the infested plants. The worms turn into an (Achatodes secs).
The stalk-borer is a caterpillar of a pale livid hue, with light stripes along the body; it some times bores into the cob of growing corn. It occurs in the central and western States in June and July, the moth (Gortyna nitela) flying late in August and early in September. The young
worm hatches about the first of July and imme diately begins to bore into the stalk, but is not noticed till the plant is destroyed. It may be detected on a close examination about the first of July, its hole being at quite a distance from the ground.
The corn-weevil (Sphenophorus see) punc tures large holes in young corn near the base of the stalk before it has spindled, and some times destroys whole fields of young corn. This weevil has been destructive in Tioga County, N. Y. It pierces the young corn in numerous places, so that each blade has from one to eight holes, the size of a pin or larger; when very numerous every stalk is killed. The weevils occur about an inch under ground, hanging to the young stalks with much tenacity. This weevil (q.v.) or snout-beetle is a rather large insect, its body long, narrow, nearly cylindrical, black, with coarse gray dots or punctures; its beak is nearly a third as long as the body, curved down, the tip triangular.
The corn-maggot is the larva of a fly (An thomyia sea) which gnaws seed corn after it is planted; the maggot is like the onion-maggot, a footless, white, cylindrical worm, the head end ing in two black hooks, the jaws. This insect sometimes so abounds as nearly to ruin entire fields of corn, gnawing into the seed and caus ing it to rot. When fully fed and ready to transform it contracts, forming a barrel-shaped brown pupa-case within which lies the pupa or chrysalis; the fly, similar to the house-fly, but smaller, appears a week after. The seed should be soaked, before planting, in gas-tar or cop peras water.
Wire-worms, the larva or slender hard skinned grubs of snapping-beetles (Elates) often ruin to a lamentable degree the roots of corn. They are hard to eradicate, but may be caught by placing slices of potato, turnip or apple in the beds and examining the undersides every morning. Another insect destructive to corn is the chinch-bug (q.v.) which punctures the leaves, sucking the sap. It appears early in June, and there is a summer and winter brood, the adults hibernating in the stubble. (See WHEAT-INSECT PESTS). Several caterpillars live at the expense of corn, among them being the larva of the io moth, a great green worm, with poisonous spines, also the fuzzy, larva of a moth (Arctia arge). Other pests are the larva of many beetles, the corn root-worm, which is the larva of a beetle, and is only serious in land which has been planted in corn for several years, and the root-louse, an aphid.