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Show By ELMO SCOTT WATSON " 4 'm XE of the greatest "battles' t J Jl" ' 1 i modern history is now , -TT V ' r u;ZZ ? JJ being waged against a A Z&&J?2 " V IS i-'tl foreign invader on Amer- AX , ' r . I f lean soil. It is a haU.e 7u 111-,' ' v - . against an enemy which . V - V, f - has threatened to wipe . .v(", ,1 , . I out nearly SlU.UiHUKiu.tMi'J "W 1 " v worth of American crops. ""- " ; v J To save them, the sum of sio.nuo.000 , sr 't,". - " .1 already has been appropriated by the . " - - " ' ' federal governmen: and much more ' . " " ,' will probably be required before the 'V.. ,', .. . " ' ' ''" ' ' ': ' fight is ended. &Z1r JL CZrOjTT&UTiTJXnv! 1 j By ELMO SCOTT WATSON y XE of the greatest "battles' in modern history is now fj a being waged against a Si ffl forp'n invader on Amer- U ican soil. It is a battle against an enemy which has threatened to wipe out nearly SlU.Ut 0.1M a i.t i!j worth of American crops. To save them, the sum of sio.nuo.000 already has been appropriated by the federal governmen: and much more will probably be required before the fight is ended. The enemy is the "assassin of the corn field," the "most dangerous enemy ene-my of Indian corn that has ever appeared ap-peared in America" the European corn borer. This enemy is an alien that first appeared on American soil in Canada in 1921. After ravaging the corn fields of that country and almost al-most totally destroying them in the short space of six years, it sneaked over the boundry line and appeared in the United States. Ohio and Michigan Michi-gan were the first states which it infested in-fested and there the losses mounted to as high as 30 per cent of the normal nor-mal crop. Before its presence became widely known, the pest had spread into New England and New York, through Pennsylvania as far south as Pittsburgh Pitts-burgh and into one corner of West Virginia. Then it began to work farther west into Michigan, invaded the northeastern corner of Indiana and within the last year It struck at the heart of America's famous corn belt by appearing In Kankakee county, coun-ty, Illinois. As the result of its operations opera-tions an area of 3,000,000 acres, covering cov-ering 10,000 square miles, has been infested and unless it is controlled, it is predicted that "the entire agricultural agricul-tural map of the world's greatest farm producing area will be changed." Threat to Crops. If the corn borer threatened only the corn crop It would be bad enough. Hut in striking at King Corn, this little lit-tle insect Is a menace also to the very foundations of the dairy, pork, poultry poul-try and other farm induslries. It Is estimated that 80 per cent of the corn is fed to live stock and sold Jn the form of meat, milk, poultry. Forty per cent of the corn is fed to hogs nnd 15 per cent to cattle. Last year these hogs wore worth SI ,080,000.000 arid cattle SI, 105,000, 000. The value of the poultry was estimated at $000,0'X),000 and the dairy products $ 1,51 5,000, WK). Add lo there the value of the corn crop itself, .S2,000,000,000, arid It gives the staggering total of ? 10,000,000,000 which the European corn borer Is threatening to reduce. Of course, this does not mean that. Ihe corn borer c ii wipe out of existence that much vo;,i;h, but It Is a potential danger to it unless the ravages of the pest are checked. Alarming as the situation has been, there is one ray of light In a recent fitalement by Secretary Jardine of the Uni'ed Stales Department of Agriculture Agricul-ture that even though the corn borer might spread over the entire corn belt, by that time his department would have developed effective and economical eco-nomical methods of control and the damage would be kept to a minimum. The Agricultural department has recently re-cently completed n survey of (he re-units re-units of the $10,000,000 spring control campaign In New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan authorized by congress. Although this survey fihows one and a half times n.s many borers in 1027 as in 1020, this is only one-sixth of the normal increase in the number of borers in the infested area that is shown in the estimate of four times as many in 102G as in 1025. The significance of this is shown in the remainder of Secretary Jardine's statement which reads as follows: The rGrJuclinn of the rnlo of hicrfuse in the number of borers this year indicates indi-cates the effecti vene.-s of the control measures employed in the r. cent sprin:. campaign, but these results also show most emphatically that the borer Is a real menace. The department's opinion continues to be that the spread of the borer to the entire corn belt Is Inevitable, Inevi-table, and that it Is a situation to which the 'farmers, the state departments of agriculture and the state akrrieu J I u ra I colleges must adjust their plans. At the same time the control measures meas-ures used In the spring were s'uflieient-ly s'uflieient-ly effective to lead the department to believe that serious commercial damage dam-age to the nation's two-blllion-dollar corn crop can be avoided to a considerable consider-able extent. The results of the campaign are due In a large measure to the co-operation given by farmers In the infested area In carrying out the clean-up measures recommended. The continuation of such concerted and vigorous action by all farmers In the area in putting effective control measures meas-ures Into practice t8 the only immediate immedi-ate way In which commercial damage can be prevented. These measures Include the destruction destruc-tion of all cornstalks, remnants of stalks, and corncobs In the fields or near the premises, before the emergence emer-gence of the corn borer moth. Kffec-tlve Kffec-tlve methods of holding down the Increase In-crease In the number of corn borer must be adopted Into tho farming practice generally or serious readlust-ment readlust-ment of the present Rysiem of farming farm-ing In the corn belt area wlil beennie necessary, as has already occurred In Canada since 1023. The Joint spring campaign of the federal and state forces having demonstrated demon-strated the effectiveness of the rontrol measures ued In slowing flown the Increase In-crease of the number of borers. It ls assumed ihat adequate control nu-a:--nrers will he continued by the ;l.'ile.. affected. The department will eontlrnie to co-operate with the states In scouting scout-ing to determine i n fesi a t Ion. the maintenance main-tenance of qua ra n 1 1 ties and In provld ln for ner-essary rer:e,-ireh and eduia. tlonal work insofar as Ihe regular a ppropr ia t Ions of the department for tho purpor'e tire available. New Eulletin Out. In furtherance of Its "Control Ihe Corn P.orer" campaign, flier Agricultural Agricul-tural department has recently Issued a bulletin for farmers on Ihe subject of "The European Corn I'.orer - Its Prevent Slalus and Method;; of Control" Con-trol" which contains Ihe following ad vice on how each can do his share lo help thwart the "assassin of the corn field": The main efreet at control of the rorn borer In tho Middle West should !. dlreeied toward the dlcponal of corn ref use. I.a rge-st ernmed weeds or gnomes growing In or along the edges of hndly Infested cornfields must, ahio be destroyed. de-stroyed. Infested plants may tie disposed dis-posed of through any one of the following fol-lowing methods or by a combination of such methods: (I) Feeding lo II v Bloelt dlrer-t from the field, or as ullage, or nn nnely cut or thinly shredih-d i material. 2) Plowing under cL-anly. (3) Rurning completely. Each held presents a separate problem. prob-lem. In any case the clean-up method adopted will vary arcording to the farming practice used. The Important thing to remember is that all corn remnants must be disposed of before the corn borer changes to the moth, or flying stage. Clean Up by May 1. For the sake of safety the ch-an-up .should he comph ted by May 1 of eaeli yea-. Jn n.-hls whieh cannot be plowed or otherwise handled effectively In the spring, special effort Bhould be made to di.'-poe of all corn remnants during the fell. In case the corn Is to be cut, It should he cut as low and ns early as pos.Ohle. Special low-cutting attachments at-tachments for corn binders may bo purchas d for this purpose. If corn Is to be cut by hand, a short-handh-d heavy hoe should he used because this permits low cutting without undue exertion. In case Infeslcd cornstalk are f-d direct to livo stock without previous cutting or shredding, the uneaten un-eaten parts should he destroyed unless trampled deeply Into manure. Increased In-creased use of the silo nnd busker-shredder busker-shredder machines Is r commended. It plowing Is to bo effective In destroying de-stroying the corn borer all thrash must bo turned under completely so that plowed-under material may not be dragged to the soil surface by later cultivation before the moths emerge. Chan p lowing deprives borers of their natural shelter when they erawl to the soil surface after being plowed under. Average plowing methods must be Improved sutllclently to Insure that all cornstalks and trash nre turned under complet'-ly. Neither depth of plowing nor time of plowing Is lin-poitant lin-poitant for rorn-borer control If a clean Job la thine and material Is not afterward dragged to the soil surface. In case the available plowing equipment equip-ment will not handle standing corn-stalks corn-stalks or high stubble, they should he cut or broken ofr at the ground level, raked both ways of the field Into windrows, and burned. This reilucrs the built of the material lo such an extent ex-tent that the remaining parts tan then be plowed under cP-anly. lU'shin' or cutllng olf standing cormu a 1 1 s at the ground levi 1, follow,. d by clean rakli g oito windrow: or piles, ami clean burning are very elective meihods They may be made more efl'ecllv'e ti the remaining trash Is plowi d under cleanly lal'ore .lime 1 of each year burn all ooricil a 1 1: s Ihat have been used for building shelters for live slock. ,,r thatching, and for w i nd hrc-i Ii s. and similar purposes. This should also include in-clude surplus rlnlks stored Tor f. .cider and all stalks in nnd around bamyaids and f. od lids. Keep ell portions of corncobs on I of i. hid ei riirii hit en led for sh l piling to points outside the Inlealed areas, ('oru ii-oiii badly Inlealed Molds should be Shelled mil Isles lhal) .1 It II c I of .Sell year and Ihe cobs bii'-ned Far corn from such llehls should be kepi In s light eomp.arlmciil or covered by llne- lliosh Wile screen lo prevent II H cape of Ihe emerging mollis. Making cor nat a 1 1; s or high-cut stubble Is an ohjecl lonabln prncllcii In lnTcalcd Holds because l loaves abuiidanl shelter Tot borers. poisons, trap lights, nllrae-llve nllrae-llve halls or pasturing Infested corn fpdda have not been olTeellvo III con- trolling Ihe borer nnd are noi recom. mended. Control of Ihe corn borer depends upon co m m it n i I y - w I do offon. The corn growers must help one nnolhor. Corn-Imror Corn-Imror mollis My from Held lo Meld. Compulsory Com-pulsory clean-up Iiiwh tire necessary lo secure Ihe full co-o pern I Ion of nil concerned. |