Control. Preventives. Fields intended for tobacco should be plowed a week or two before the time to transplant and the ground thoroughly cultivated so that all signs of vegetation will be removed. In this way the cricket will be forced to seek new fields for food. Undoubtedly, too, the cultivation will disturb the crickets in their tunnels, thus causing many of them to leave the field intended for tobacco. If this measure is resorted to it will be absolutely necessary to keep down the growth of all vegetation, otherwise the crickets will secure enough food to keep them alive until tobacco is transplanted, when they will turn their attention to the tobacco, doing, perhaps, all the more damage because they have been starved. Remedies. After the fields have been thoroughly cultivated as recommended above, they should be thoroughly covered with poisoned green bait as recommended under Cutworms. (Page 41.) The crickets, being deprived of their normal food, will be forced to eat the poisoned bait, which will kill them. The Spined Tobacco Bug.' (Order Hemiptera.) Frequently in tobacco fields it will be noticed that the tops of plants, single leaves or whole small plants often wilt down in a single day. The knowing ones say, "tobacco wilt"; but a careful search reveals none of the characteristic marks of the true tobacco FIG. 45.-Adult of the Spined Tobacco Bug, enlarged. wilt, but a drab-colored bug nearly half an inch long. This is a true sucking insect and secures its food by sucking the juices of the plant through a slender beak which it inserts beneath the bark of the plant. Frequently on young plants it works just at the surface of the ground. Euchistus servus. Often two or three bugs attack a single plant. Such plants rarely recover, and it is at this time that this insect does the greatest amount of damage. On older plants it works usually higher up, in which case only the top of the plant wilts. Such plants, though severely checked, usually recover very rapidly. Still later in the season, when the tobacco is nearly ready to be harvested, these bugs seem to confine themselves to the stems of the leaves. Leaves which have been attacked in this way wilt rapidly and do not seem to mature well in the fields. Tobacco farmers tell me that such leaves are always of an inferior grade and color. The adult bug which has been described above and which is well illustrated in Fig. 45, is one of the insects which are normally present every year. It is found among all sorts of weeds, but is said to prefer the common thistle and the mullein. Undoubtedly this insect is attracted to the tobacco field because of the rich, succulent growth of tobacco, as the plants at this season of the year are full of juices. Control. Preventives. The tall, rank-growing weeds, such as thistle and mullein, should be kept severely down in the tobacco field and in the fields adjoining. It is doubtful if this insect would ever occur in the tobacco fields if it were not first attracted to them by rank-growing weeds among the tobacco. Remedies. There is no remedy that can be used against this pest except hand picking. Wherever the bugs are noticed they should be picked off at once and destroyed. THE LESSER INSECT ENEMIES OF TOBACCO. The insects included in this group are usually never serious enemies of tobacco, though normally they are present in the tobacco fields every year and do an appreciable amount of injury. They are only incidental visitors to the tobacco field, as most of them are general feeders. Most of the insects included in this group are abundant. usually occurring wherever there is green vegetation, and not a few of them are serious pests of other crops. Fortunately, however, they are without exception chewing insects, and yield themselves readily to the methods of fighting other more important pests. Grasshoppers.1 (Order Orthoptera.) Every one is familiar with grasshoppers, as they are normally present every year wherever there is any sign of green vegetation. Frequently they do quite an appreciable amount of damage to tobacco by chewing irregular oval holes in first-class wrapper, thereby ruin'Melanoplus femur-rubrum and Trimerotropis citrina. ing it for that purpose. (Fig. 46.) So far as observed, only two kinds of grasshoppers' are injurious to tobacco in North Carolina. The FIG. 46.-Tobacco Leaf injured by Grasshoppers, reduced. chief offender in this respect is the red-legged locust. (Fig. 47.) This insect is a small grayish-brown, short-horned locust or grasshopper with no conspicuous markings save a pair of bright-red hind legs. This grasshopper has a single generation each year. Eggs are laid by the female in the fall, and these do not hatch until the follow FIG. 47.-The Red-legged Grasshopper, enlarged. ing spring. Usually the female selects a hard spot of ground, espe cially covered with vegetation, and drills a small hole about the diameter of her body and deep enough to hold from two to three dozen eggs. These eggs are laid singly and covered with a water 'Melanoplus femur-rubrum and Trimerotropis citrina. proof, sticky substance which cements them together into bent flaskshaped masses. Each female lays from two to three groups of eggs. These remain over winter in the ground and hatch the following spring. The nymphs which hatch from these eggs resemble in a general way the full-grown grasshopper. They have large heads in comparison to the rest of the body and the wings are represented by short, thick pads. These nymphs become full-grown about the first of September, when the adults pair and lay eggs for the following year. Birds of various kinds are serious enemies of grasshoppers, but perhaps the most important enemy is the fungus disease. In the fall especially it is not an uncommon sight to see dead grasshoppers which have been killed by this fungus, clinging to tall weeds or grasses. The larvæ of blister beetles, as mentioned above (page 55), are important enemies of grasshoppers, living as they do on their eggs. The general habits of grasshoppers are too well known to need discussion. Their range of food plants seems to include all low-growing green vegetation. Control. Preventives. During serious outbreaks Grasshoppers may be controlled to a great extent by fall or winter plowing, as this tends to break up the egg cases and expose them to the weather. If the land is plowed deeply either the eggs are exposed or are buried so deeply that the young nymphs on hatching are unable to reach the surface. Frequently, however, during such outbreaks, the eggs are laid in waste places which cannot be plowed. Under such conditions recourse must be had to some of the following remedies: Remedies.-Tobacco sprayed by arsenates as recommended for Horn Worms (page 30) is usually sufficiently protected against these pests. However, either poison bran made as directed for Cutworms (page 45) or "Criddle Mixture" made by poisoning horse droppings according to the following formula-one part of Paris green, 60 parts horse droppings and adding two parts of salt dissolved in water (Chittenden)-may be used in very severe cases. The Grasshoppers are attracted by the salt in the mixture and secure enough poison to kill them. Turkeys and guineas, if allowed to range over the fields as recommended under Horn Worms (page 30), will usually keep Grasshoppers in control also. Katydids.1 (Order Orthoptera.) The peculiar rasping call of Katydids is a familiar sound on warm autumn evenings, and Katydids are more familiar to most people by 'Scudderia spp. sound than by sight. These light-green, long-horn grasshoppers (Fig. 48) are frequent visitors to the tobacco field, where they do no slight FIG. 48.-" Katydid," about natural size. (Photograph by the author.) amount of injury by eating large irregular holes through the leaves. Katydids lay their eggs in the fall. The nymphs hatch in the early summer and become full-grown the latter part of August. Katydids occur in woods, marshes, and weedy fields and only wander to tobacco fields incidentally. The writer has seen tobacco growing next to an old field, overgrown with briars, weeds, and young pines, simply riddled by the nearly full-grown nymphs of Katydids. Control. Preventives. From what has been said above, it may naturally be inferred that the farmer should avoid planting tobacco near fields which seem especially favorable for the development of these pests. Clean cultivation tends also to deter these insects from entering tobacco fields. Remedies. The arsenates used against the more important insects are entirely effective in keeping Katydids in check. Cabbage Looper.' ALSO CALLED "CABBAGE PLUSIA" AND "CABBAGE WORM." This insect is normally a pest of cabbage. Occasionally, however, it becomes destructive to tobacco. The eggs of this insect are golden yellow in color and flattened on the side next to the leaf and rounded on the other, the surface being marked with many ridges. The larvæ are light-green in color, with stripes of lighter green on the sides of the body. (Fig. 49.) They have a characteristic, looping gait, whence the name Cabbage Looper. The pupa makes itself a thin, silken cocoon, usually on the underside 1Plusia brassiceae. |