element in them, but do not yield it up readily enough for the
plant.
 The above is a cheap and simple test, and one that has saved
money to the watchful farmer, and will save still more to others.




 Enemies of the Tomato.
 BOLL-WORM.
 (Heliothis armigera, L.)
 The tomato fruit-worm is too common and destructiveqto
 need either description or drawing. The amount of damage done
 to fruit last year varied considerably in different fields. As a
 general rule, the new fields that were somewhat removed from
 land that had been cultivated for a number of years had remark-
 ably fewer worms than fields long under cultivation, or than new
 fields contiguous to old fields. The amount of damage gradually
 increased as the end of the shipping season approached. One
 field showed a loss of one-half of the fruit at about the last pick-
 ing. Other fields lost, on an average, one out of three tomatoes.
 Many fields lost one-fourth of that picking.
 This insect is the one that does so much damage to the cot-
 ton crop each year. Much labor and money have been expended
 in trying to find a suitable remedy for this pest. The small
 amount of food taken from the surface of the plant it feeds on
 renders the idea of poisoning hopeless. Some persons have been
 bold enough, however, to try different kinds of poison. These
 had some effect, but not sufficient to pay for the time and ex-
 pense of applying. As a general rule, the stronger poisons killed
 the greater number of worms. The idea of poisoning is clearly
 out of reason in such a crop as tomatoes, and the use of such in-
 secticides as kill the insect by coming in contact with it is also
 hopeless, since the worm spends most of its life inside of the
 tomato. This insect is rather a general feeder, but in all cases its
 habits are very similar, in that it strives to eat into the portion of
 the plant it uses for food.
 PLANTS ATTACKED.
 The greatest damage is done by it to the cotton crop. Many
 cotton fields have been rendered almost worthless, and in still