. The cereals in America. Grain. Beetle and larva of wire- worm; enlarged two times. (After Forbes.) 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 de- structive by attacking the seed in the ground before it is sprouted, and also by eating and boring the roots and stems
. The cereals in America. Grain. Beetle and larva of wire- worm; enlarged two times. (After Forbes.) 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 de- structive 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 culti- vation becomes necessary. 329. Cutworms.—There are at least fourteen dis- tinct 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 pas- tures 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 obUque 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 d-jring late spring and summer,
Size: 2053px × 1218px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorhuntthom, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1904
