Note Back to Main Text — Chapter XIII

The "horn worm" feeds upon the finest and largest leaves. They are not found as often on the top leaves—especially those growing on the very highest part of the stalk, as they prefer the ripe leaves and those lower on the plant. The horn worm, if large, eats the leaves in the finest part of them, frequently destroying half of a leaf. They leave large holes which renders the leaf worthless for a cigar wrapper, leaving it fit only for fillers or seconds. In Cuba the tobacco plant is assailed by three different kinds of insects—one attacks the foot of the leaves; a second the under side; a third devours the heart of the plant. In Colombia the following are the great enemies of the tobacco plant: A grub, named canne, which devours the young buds; the rosca-worm, which commits its depredations in the night only, burrowing in the ground during the day; the grub of a butterfly, called by the Creoles palometa; a species of scarabæus called arader, which feeds on the root of the plant; and a species of caterpillar[77] which is called in the country the horned-worm, so voracious as to require one night only to devour an entire leaf of tobacco. At the South, and especially in Virginia, the housewife's flock of turkeys are allowed to range in the tobacco fields and devour many of these pests.