Rebecca Louise Dalton, age 7', San Diego, Calif., for her question:

We all admire a velvety green lawn. The owner is very proud. He knows how much time and work were needed to grow a patch of short, healthy grass. First, the ground was dug and raked into fine crumbs. Maybe some kind of plant food was added to the soil. Then the grass seed was scattered. The young seedlings were sprinkled with water, enough and not too much. Soon the brown ground was green with tender blades of young grass.

But the work on the lawn is not finished. As the blades of grass grow taller they must be cut. Otherwise only the ends of the leaves would stay green. The lower ends of blades would be like dry straw. Every week the lawn must be mowed and shaved to keep that close, velvety finish.

Trouble sometimes happens even after all this work. Imagine waking up to find dry brown patches on the green velvety lawn you have made. Someone has come along and oaten up the tender green blades of grass. Chances areo this bandit was the lawn moth. Actually, the damage is done by the grub, or larva, of the lawn moth. For, during this state of its lifer the creature dines on green grass. He prefers the close cut grass of carefully tended lawns and golf courses.

The grub of the lawn moth is a kind of caterpillar. Like all caterpillars, he has an enormous appetite. At first he eats only the soft green parts of the grass, leaving behind a skeleton of veins. Later he chews off the blades and gobbles them all up, veins and all.

The lawn moth grub builds itself a home on or just under the soil. It may be a little tunnel or a shelter of silken threads camouflaged with bits of green. For this reason, the greedy grub is also called the webworm. There are many varieties of webworm. They are all classed in the insect family Crambidae. The family name means dry or withered, When you consider what they do to the grass, this seems fair enough.

These Crambus insects seem to have parceled out the country between them. The bluegrass webworm attacks the beautiful grass in and around Kentucky. The vagabond webworm

The vagabond webworm attacks the lawns in the eastern states,This fellow is not content with grass. He sometimes attacks the green growing corn.  The vagabond is a pest to the farmers. California is bothered by two webworms, One likes low damp areas, one likes the high dry slopes.

The damage is started in the evening, any evening through spring and summer. At that time of day, the Mama lawn moth flies around low over the grass, She is a brownish moth about one inch wide. In San Diego, you may see a pretty moth with golden front wings striped with silver. Do not stop to admire her. She is a lawn moth and, like her sisters, she is dropping her eggs into the grass.

The eggs hatch in about one week, The little grubs start to eat the grass at once, Soon the velvety green lawn is blotched with brown patches. Now is the time to start war on the little pests. There is a way to test for lawn moth grubs in your lawn. You slosh on a weak solution of chemical and they come wriggling to the surface. The whole brood can be destroyed by spraying or dusting the lawn with anti‑insect chemicals. When they are all gone, the green grass will grow back into the bare spots and the velvety lawn will be admired again.