Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1919 — ARMY WORMS SWEEPING CROPS OF THE STATE. [ARTICLE]

ARMY WORMS SWEEPING CROPS OF THE STATE.

The army worm is making its appearance in many counties in Indiana and vast damage to crops is resulting. After a visitation of armyworms nothing is left in a field that is of the least value. Whoever named the army worm must have had a vision of the German army at work in Belgium and northern France. One is about as destructive as the other. The army worm is about the most industrious pest known to man. They have been known to totally destroy the crop on a forty-acre field in one night. The earth becomes literally carpeted with them, from 250 to 400 worms ito the square foot of ground not being unusual. When they are in motion the ground appears to have taken on agentle, undulating movement—'there are literally waves of worms. No other living thing appears to have such a voracious appetite, as a matter of fact, an army worm is appetite and onetenth storage capacity. Fortunately, the lives of these insects are short and apparently there is but one successful method of dealing with them.- That is to dig a trench a foot or more deep around the fields that it is sought to protect. If the wills of the trench are reasonably straight and the bottom of the trench is filled with pulverized soil, the worms are unable to climb out, although they crawl and "tumble in by the million. In order to insure their destruction many farmers hitch ,a horse to a log or pole, which is dragged the length of the trench and which is said to curb the ambition and end the activity of the worms that happen to be in the trench at the time.

It isn’t difficult to guess which way they are going, for they move' straight ahead until they encounter some" unsurmountahle Barrier. An army worm was never known to die of old age. They all succumb to indigestion within a very short time. Night is the favored time for the activity on the part of these foragers. During the day they seek shelter from the heat, 1 but when evening comes they are up and doing and through the night they pursue their work of destruction with an enthusiasm worthy of a better cause.