FALL MANUAL OF PRACTICE IN ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY ' OHIO Agricultural Experiment Station WOOSTER, OHIO, U .S. A., NOVEMBER, 1911. BULLETIN 233 The Bulletins of this Station are sent free to all residents of the S~ r: request them. When a change of address is desired, both the old and the new address should be given. All correspondence should be addressed to EXPERIMENT STATION, Wooster, Ohio OHIO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BOARD OF OO:N'rl!.OL G. E. JOBE, President, ••••••••• , ................................ ,, ........ • Cedarville GEORGE E. Sco:r:r •••••• ,, ••••• , •••• , ••• ,., •• ,, ••••••• , ••• ,., •• ,.,,, ••• ,, .Mt. Pleasant CHARLES FLUMEIIFELT • , , , • , •• , , • , • , ••••• , •• , ••• , • , , • , • , • , , , , , , , , , , , , , , • •., •• Old Fort MAIITIN L. RUETENlK .••••••• , •.••••.••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••• , • , • , , • Oleve~and JAMES DEVOL .. , ..... , , • , • , , .... , • , ..... , ............ , , , , , .... ,., , .. ,.,, ... Marlett& STATION STAFF O!IAIILES E. T:a:oiiNlil, M. S. .A.., Direottw NUTRITIOli TB:E DlllECTOil, Chief E. B. FOilllES, Ph. D., Chief' WILLIAM H. KilAMER, Bursar J. 0. HALVEIIIION, Ph. D., Aeltmo Chief W. K. GREENBANK, Librarian J . .A.. ScHULZ, B. S., Assistc.nt CLAIIENClii M. BAKE!I, B. S., Editor E. :S. WELLll, B. S., Assistant AGRONOMY SOILS C. G. WILLIAMS, Associate Director, Chief THE DlllECTOB, Chief F. A. WELTON, M. S., Associate 0. G. WILLIAMS, Associate in soil fertilitu J. B. P .AAB:, .Ph. D, Assooiate1 J. W. AYES, M. S., Asso. in soiZ chemist? 11 WILLIAM HOLYJJS, Farm Manager F. E. BEAR, Ph. D., Assocutte1 0. A. PATTON, Assistant B. S. DAVISSON, M. A, Assistant L. E. THATCB:Eil, Ph. G., Assistant A. BONAZZI, B . .A.gr., Assistant ANIMAL HUSBANDRY J. T. PARSONS, B. A., Assistant• G. W. CONREY, A. M.. Assistant• B. E. CAIIYICHAEJ:., M. S., Chief J. W. HAYMOND, M. S., Assoc.ate FARM MANAGEMENT W. J. Buss, Assistant 0. W. MONTGOl\I:CRY, Chief W. L. RoBISON, M. S., Assistant G. P. BECKER, Assi8tant BOTAn DISTRICT EXPERIMENT FARMS .A.. D. SELEY, B. S., Chief TRUE HOUSER, B. S., Asst. (Germantown) liorthea.stern Test-Farru, Strongsville WAYND VAN PELT, B. S., Ass•stant W. H. RUETENIK, Superintendent R. C. THOMAS, M. A., Assistant• Southwestern Test-Farm, Germantown CHEMISTRY HENRY M. WACRTDR, Superintendent J. W. AMEs, M. S,, Chief G. E. BOLTZ, B. S., Assistc.nt Southeastern Test-Farm, Carpenter 0. J. SCROLLENBERGEII, Assistant S. 0. HARTMAN, M. S., Superintendent MABEL K. COili!OULD, Assistant ll'orthwestern Test-Farm, Findlay RAUB H. SIMON, .A.. M., Assistant JOHN A. SUTTON, Superintendent ClLIM:.A.TOLOGY COUNTY EXPERIMENT FARMS W. H. ALEXANDER, Chief {Columbus)' C. A. PATTON, Observer Miami Co. Expenment Farm, Troy { l\ladtson Co. Experiment Farm, London D.A.IRY;rNG R. R. BARKER, B. S., Supt., Wooster C. 0. HAYDEN, M. S., Chief Paulding Co. Exper1ment Farm, Pauld1ng A. E. PERKINS, M. S., Assistant H. R. HOYle, Supt., Wooster ENTOMOLOGY Clermont co. Experiment Farm, owensville H. A. GossARD, M. S.. Chief Hamilton Co. Experiment Far~.. HElmERT OSBORN, D. Se., Associate' ~ i\(l.t. Healthy J. S. HOUSER, M. S. A., Assoc>ate H. W. RoGERS, Supt., Mt. Healtb.r R. D. WHITMARSH, M. b., A8Bl8tant2 Washington Co. Experiment Farm, Fleming J. R. STEAR, B. S., Assi.Btant2 f Washington Co. Truck Expenm~n1fa;f~ta. FORESTRY S. C. HARTMAN, M. S., Supt., Marietta EDMUND SECilEiiT, B. S., Chief J. J. CRUMLEY, Ph. D., Assistant Ma.honing Co. Experiment Farm, Canfield A. E. TAYLOR, B. S., Ass.stant { Trumbull Co. Experiment Farm, Cortland J. W. CALLAND, B. S., Aesistant' J. PAUL MARKLFY, Supt., Oan:fi.eld KOl!.TICULTUl!.E Belmont Co. Experiment !'arm, St. Clairsville 0. W. MONTGOMERY, Acting Supt., W. J. GREEN, Vice Director, Chief Wooster F. H. BALLOU, Assistant {Newark) PAUL TRAYER, M. S., Assistant5 STATE FORESTS I. P. LEWIS, B. S., Fie'ld Assistant Waterloo State Forest. New Marshfteld 0. W. ELLENWOOD, Fie'ld Assistant Dean State Forest. Steeee •rn cooperation with the College of Agriculture, Ohio State University, CollUDbttll. =on leave of absence in military service. "'n rooperation with the U. S. Department of Agriculture. •On leave of a.bsenee with the Miami OoneervanCT District. 'On leave of absence. BULLETIN OF THE Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station NUMBER 233 NovEMBER, 1911. FALL MANUAL OF PRACTICE IN ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY B:v H. A. GOSSARD INTRODUCTION The appreciative reception given to the Winter and Spring Manuals of Economic Zoology encourages the author to believe that the general plan of these bulletins is suited to the needs of students of practical entomology. In submitting this, the third number of the series, be bespeaks for it the same kindly attention and the same practical test of usage that was accorded to the earlier numbers. The reader should understand that the remedies and preventive measures hereinl.fter indicated are suggestive and not intended as recommendations to be regularly followed every season. The summaries of measures given at the close of each crop section merely indicate the pests against which such procedure will operate, and each farmer must determine for himself whether the conditions prevailing on his farm render advisable the adoption of any of the measures mentioned. In some instances, hardly one of the measures named will be needea, while in others one or more of them are imperatively necessary. (53) 54 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 233 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE CLEAN FARMING Clean cultivation does much toward controlling insect pests. It removes weeds which support thousands of insects and which, in some cases, bridge over vital periods in the lives of very important pests; for instance, if no seed of smartweed, ragweed, purslane, foxtail or other common weeds of the corn field are allowed to maJ ture, there will be no roots of these early spring weeds to sustain the corn root aphis until the corn roots are ready for them. The chinch bug hibernates, as a rule, under weeds in the corn :field, or in and around stubble fields. The tarnished plant bug thrives where­ ever weeds abound. Flea beetles multiply rapidly on the roots of nettles and various other weeds, especially nightshades. The buf­ falo tree hoppers and the tree crickets multiply far faster and become far more annoying in orchards and fruit gardens if there is a nearby thicket of weeds in which they can find food, shelter and suitable places for depositing their eggs. The common stalk borer lays its eggs largely upon weeds, notably the ragweed. The yellow banded, zebra-like beetle, which is the parent of the locust borer, is more or less dependent on the flowers of the golden rod for its food supply. Make careful and opportune use of the plow, cultivator, disc, common harrow, weeder, mowing machine and scythe to cut off all these common sources of support for such insect foes of the field, orchard, garden and forest. Clean farming also means to pick up boards, limbs, brush, piles of hay, etc. These should be burned or so disposed of that the full value of the rubbish will be conserved without endangering valuable crops, such as may be injured by in­ sects which find shelter beneath it. Keep the weeds down along roadsides and in pastures, against fence rows, and in out of the way corners. The remnants of old crops and volunteer plants should be destroyed as soon as possible after the harvest. Old potato vines afford shelter, over winter, in the stalks, for the potato stalk borer; old asparagus shoots give winter protection to the asparagus beetle; old squash vines contain the pupae of the squash borer; old cabbage stalks sustain the cabbage louse or carry the eggs over winter, etc. Small piles of old grain in corners of the bins and on the ground beneath the floor, where it fell through cracks and knot holes, keep various forms of granary insects breeding throughout the year and hence the new crop is at once attacked as soon as it is stored. Old clover hay in the corner of the mow or under a ladder in some ball­ way may carry over the clover hay worm and start great mischief in the new crop when it is put away. Keeping the scaly bark FALL MANUAL 5S scraped from the trunks of fruit trees will prevent many mJurious insects, such as codling worm, pear psylla, woolly aphis, etc., from finding shelter on the trees which they expect to restock with their kind the next spring. There is but little danger of a practical, sensible man becoming over-solicitous about these matters, and the need of giving constant and thorough attention to them can hardly be over-emphasized. BURNING The old fashioned practice of burning over the stubble fields in the fall had some commendable features in spite of the fact that much humus was thereby lost to the soil. The general practice of using wheat as a nurse crop for clover has compelled the abandon­ ment of this o:id custom, and, as a consequence, certain wheat in­ sects, notably the Hessian fl.y and the wheat jointworm, have become much more abundant and injurious in late years than they formerly were. So serious, indeed, have these pests become that many growers have preferred to use rye or some wide-branching, or loose­ headed variety of oats that lets the sunlight through to the ground as a nurse crop for clover, and have discontinued the production of wheat. Burning the wheat stubble would largely control these pests, and with the present great demand for wheat, it is not im­ probable that agricultural adjustments will be made which will again make possible the burning of wheat stubble in the fall. So large a number of insects shelter in the stubble of different crops and among weeds along the roadside or around the borders of fields, and the eggs of so many of these and of others are laid on weeds and grass, that careful burning in fall or in early spring is, in many cases, a paying proposition, notwithstanding considerable offsetting loss from waste of material that would change into humus.