The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-04-18
Our 0liu.



districts have probably seen men armed
with small hoop nets, who we're not ''fsh-
ing, but only catching bugs and butter
hies, and moths and beetles and other
insects, which, when caught, are closely
examined and then carefully put away in
satehels adapted to the purpose. Some of
the observers have doubtless thought "what
Is the good Of il ~ and especially of the
ugly looking bugs-they have probably
wondered what the bug-hunters want with
them. Well, these bug-hunters are what
are called entomologists Some Of them
are mere curious amateurs, and some Of
them are highly cultivated, scientific men,
who study the nature and habits ofinsects,
50 as to turn their knowledge TO account
for the general service Of mankind. Their
studies have already been of great value
to the planter, the farmer and the garden
er. An understanding of what insects are
harmless, as regards the growing crops,
and what are destructive, has come to be
a matter of considerable Importance. Such
understanding is furnished by the gentle
men (and the ladies' whose seemingly
useless pursuit of butterflies, bugs and
beetles has excited the surprise of the un-
initiated observers.
So important has the study become in
its economic aspects that Governments ex-
tend aid and encouragement to it, and our
own is one Of these, having fine museum
at Washington, and having published
quite body of literature on the subject,
through the Reports Of the Patent Office
and the Agricultural Bureau. There are
a great many books (some of them very
costly devoted exclusively to the descrip-
tion Of insects and their habits, and espe-
cially of their food, for it is mainly with
respect to 1hdt they eat that they are
either harmless or destructive to the planter,
the farmer, and the gardener. The narmy
worm" after it had given but little trouble
for more than hundred years, destroyed
millions of dollars worth Of grain in 1861.
The wheat midge and Hessian fly destroy
ed several million dollars worth Of wheat
in New York in a single year. II is said
that the State Of Main could raise a hun
dred thousand bushels of wheat a year
but for the ravages of these two insects I;
and the loss to the southern planters by
the "cotton-boll worm" the "army worn"
and the "chinch-bug" is enormous every
few years. The "wire worm" alone con-
sumed in one Department of France nearly
a million dollars worth of grain, aud was
the cause of deficient haryests for success
siye years. In Germany whole forests
were consumed by the larvae Of a species
of worm, and thousands of fir trees had to
be cut down because the trees were at
tackled by insects. Such facts as these
make entomology an economic study. The
agriculturist, in the broadest sense, as a
grower Of fruits as well as grain and other
crops, classifes insects into two categories,
the friends and foes of his crops, according
as they are carnivorOus (fesh eaters) or
herbivorous (herbage eaters,) and it is
necessary to distinguish carefully between
them. This the entomologist enables the
agriculturist to do. Professor Leidy, Of
the University of Pennsylvania, has gained
great reputation by bis "Flora and Fauna
with Living Animals" and the thorough
and exhaustive study he has given to his
work has gone far to put limits to the fear
of any excessive or unlimited growth of
animal life at the cost Of fruit and grain.
The work of protection is always well done
by birds whose habits are well vouched for.
In France the Government solemnly ex-
tends its protection to buzzards and rocks,
because each Of the former consume about
six thousand field mice yearly, aud the
latter eat an incalculable number Of white
worms. In Hungary, and afterwards in
Prussia, to the discontinue Of Frederick
the Great, who had ordered their exile
from his garden, the sparrows were found
to be the farmers best friend; and here,
in Philadelphia, we have reason to be
grateful for the protection they give our
trees from that ugly enemy, the measuring
worm.
Each fruit and shade tree, each garden
shrub and vegetable has host Of insects
peculiar to It, which year after year renew
their attacks. Upwards of fifty species of
insects prey upon cereals and grapes; as
many infest our field crops; thirty we'll
known species ravago our garden vegeta-
bles; there are nearly fifty species which
attack the grape vine, and their number is
increasing; about seyenty-fve species make
their annual onset upon the apple tree, and
nearly an equal number may be found upon
the plum, pear, peach and cherry. Over
fifty species infest the oak, twenty-five the
elm, seventy-five the walnut, and over one