The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-11-15
From the Practical Entomologist.
The Potato.
The New P0tat0-bug, and its Natural
History.
By Benz. ID. walsh. Nj. A.

years has spread from Colorado and Nebras-
Ia into Iowa. and within the last year and
half has crossed the Mississippi into ILLINOIS,
ord 90 II seams. into Wisconsin also; whence
in course of time it will probably travel on
wards to the Atlantic establishing perma-
nent colony wherever 1t goes, ana pushing
eastward at the rate of about hfty miles
wear. The following extracts Will give some
;dsa of the way in which this insect operates,
where il has once made itself home, and OF
the dates of its first appearance In different
localities.
Thos. Murphy, of Atchison, Kansas, says
that In August, 1861, they were so numer
ous in his ten acre garden, shat they would
almost cover the whole potato vine, eating up
everything on il, and that he has "otten In
a verv short time gathered as many as two
bushels of them. "-( Talley Farmer, July,
1862, p. 209.)
In August, 1861, j. Edgerton, of Gravity,
Iowa. says that ''they made their appearance
upon the vines as soon as the potatoes were
out of the ground, and there being cold,
wet spell of weather about that time, they
deyoured them as fast they were up.
(prairie Farmer, August 2e, 1851, p. no.
And from New Sharon, Iowa, DR.. Fitch was
informed in 1868 'that some have been dis
Outraged from planting potatoes, the ravages
of this potato bug have been so great. >
Trans N. Y. State Agr. Soc, 1868, p. 79S.
d. Fitzpatrick, of Linton, Iowa, under date
of June 80, 1865, says, 81 took more than a
gallon of bugs this morning from eleven
rows of potatoes eight rods long. Eternal
vigilance is the price of potatoes IN this sec
tion IN, 7. Sem. Tribune, July IS,
1861
Norman Matteson, of Iowa, June, 1865,
saws that 'the only way they can grow pota-
toes there Is to 90 over the field every day,
and destroy the eggs OF the potato bug which
are laid upon the leaves. ~ Ibid, July eth,
1869
Later in the year cdr. Trimble placed up
on the table of the New York Farmers Club
a large handful of letters, boxes, bottles and
packages from Iowa, all of them containing
a repetition of the same sad story, touching
the terrible pest now affecting potato growers
at the IT, Ibid, Aug. |, 1861
In August, 1864 ! received from Prot
Worthen. the State Geologist of Illinois, spec
linens of this insect, with IA statement that
sit is committing the most destructive raVa,
ges on the potato crop In the vicinity OF W ar
saw. IA town on the Mississippi river in Cen
trail Illinois 50 as to threaten the loss OF the
entire crop on many FARMS" L find that the
same insect in the same year appeared On the
potato in considerable numbers near New
Boston, Illinois another town on the Mlsslss-
tumn of the same year l myself captured
two specimens in Rock Island, another town
still higher up on the same river; and In
1865 it has been quite abundant there, COM
pletely destroying some pieces OF potatoes
and utterly running the egg-plants in my
garden; but up to this date 1t has not reach
ed point lying thirty miles to the east OF us
in such numb ers as to be noticed by farmers.
| hear from reliable sources that 1t has also
81 w.
Carroll-a point situated about ten miles
from the Mississippi near the northern Dor
der of the State, and also In the nelghbOrhOod
of Alton which lies on the east bank of the
Mississippi not many miles above St. Louis.
Il does not appear to have advanced as yet,
any considerable distance into the interior OF
the State: but from the above facts it results,
that it must have crossed the river into Hi
nois in 1864 and 1865, at no less than FIVE
different points, the northernm0st of which
lies over two hundred miles In a straight
line from the southernmost. Hitherto nox-
ious insects in the United States have been
found to travel from the east towards the
west We have here the first instance on
record of a noxious insect travelling from the
west towards the east.
But 1t will be asked, where does this in
sect come from? And how does it happen
that it did not trouble the Iowa farmers be-
fore 1861, and the Illinois farmers before
1864? / believe that l can explain this sat
isfactoriy. Unlike several other noxious in
sects, it ia not general feeder, but is con.
fined to plants belonging to the botanical
family SotGnaceae, and especially to the gen.
US SolGnuns, which includes the Potato, the
Tomato, the Egg plant, and weed called the
Horse nettle, found more usually In the
Southern States, but which also grows in
cartaip Ioca litiea in Iowa In 1874 n
Velie, the ornithologlst of Rock Island, H.,
and DIR. Parry, the botanist of Davenport a.
both saw this insect in very great numbers
in Colorado, feeding upon q wild species of
,Solanuna-the roStratrum Of Dunal-which
is peculiar to that region of the country and
is not found east of the Mississippi River :;
and to the former gentleman / am indebted
for numerous specimens collected by him on
this plant which are undistipguishable from
those found on the potato. Assuming there
fore, that this wild iSolanuns is the natural
food of the insect, and that the region of
country bordering on the Rocky Mountains
is its natural home, Its range would, for a
long series of years, be limited by the range
of the plant that it feeds on. But in process
of time civilization marched up to the Rocky
Mountains-potatoes were planted in Kan
sas and Nebraska and Colorada-and the in
sect discovered that one species OF SOLdnum
was about as palatsble as another
Having thus cquired taste for potato
leaves, it would naturally spread eastward
from potato patch to potato patch till it over
spreads Iowa and finally overleaped the Mis-
sissippi into Illinois. In confirmation of this
theory, r. w. Hazen of Fremont, Dodge Co.,
Nebraska, says that 1.-The potato bug which is
80 destructive in that region was first dscov-
cred in 1859, about 100 miles west of Omaha
CIty. whence thew have hean marching an al