The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-06-18
THE COLORADO POTATO BUG.
Ravages Upon Our Favorite Tuber
Their Rapid Spread, and the Modes
of discriminating Them.

Their RavaSes Upon Our Favorite Tuber
Their Rapid Spread, and the Modes
of DISCRIMINATING Them.
The Colorado potato bug, according to
current statements from the Agricultural
Bureau, first appeared near the base Of the
Rocky Mountains, and reached the Mis-
souri, River in 1863. travelling az the rate
of sixty to eighty miles Il year. In 1866
they crossed the Missouri, and in 1867. in
Illinois. they accomplished their first seri-
Gus damage TO the potato crop, reducing
it several millions of bushels. For in
stance, in 1866 the potato crop in Illinois
averaged cighty-siX and a half bushels to
the acre. and the price was siXty-four
cents per bushel. In 1867 the crop in the
same State was reduced by the Colorado
beetle to sixty bushels per acre. and the
price was increased to $l.20 per bushel.
The ravages of the insect continued from
year to year, and. though all means pos
sible to think of were used in mitigation,
nothing seemed so effectual as h4nd-p pick
ing in the first instance, and the use of
Paris green in the second. In 1870 the ten
lived spear men-which. by the way, is Il
translation of their Latin name. d0ryphora
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the State of Ohio
and the result was the potato crop of that
year was nearly destroyed in that State.
Still moving eastward, farther and farther
on the peStilential swarms have covered
Western Virginia, Maryland, Virginia,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, and this year they have appeared in
large numbers in the country adjacent to
the District of Columbia. This insect has
a most enormous capacity for reproduce
ton. A single female will deposit from
seven to twelve hundred eggs at intervals
during forty days on The leaves of the po-
tatO. In six days the eggs hatch into lar
vac, which feed upon the vines for nearly
twenty days. They then descend into the
ground, and, after remaining in the prop
err state, to which the larvp of cOurSe
changes, for some ten or twelve days. they
again come up as perfect beetles. The
time they are Il week old the sexes are all
paired off. and in another week the females
commence laying eggs for another addi-
ton 10 the family. y single pair of these
Colorado beetles would produce in one
single season, if undisturbed, a progeny
of sixty millions; and if two can produce
sixty millions in n year. how many can
sixty times sixty millions Of pairs pro-
duce?
The engine principally used in killing
them is Paris green. mixed with ashes, and
busted over the plants in the morning,
when the dew is on them. Hand picking
answers pretty we'll III the first, but they
are too numerous for such an operation in
the latter part of the season. There !
also danger of crushing them in the fin
gers. for they are quite poisonous. and sew
eral persons have lost their lives by breath
ing the steam of hot wafer used for the
purpose of killing them. One should
never touch any thing that goes into the
mouth after handling them. Then again,
Paris green. composed as it i largely OF
arsenic. requires the greatest care in
handling.
There are mOre than twenty varieties Of
the parasitic insect enemy constantly
making war upon the Colorado beetle,
and, were ii not for these, all the hand
picking and Paris green in the world
would hardly interrupt their ravages. Not
one of them has ever been seen in England
vet, and it is sincerely to be hoped that
they do not contemplate a visit. They
are approaching New England, via New
York, very fast. and the next year will
witness an advance into Vermont and
Connecticut, and in 1877 iC : estimated
that they will cover all the New England
States. Southwark they do not travel
than Virginia and Kentucky.
They are of Northern origin and it is for
this reason, probably, that they cannot
stand the heat of the States further south
than those above mentioned. In this re-
gard they have an analogy with the cotton
worm, which being Indigenous to the tX-
trcme South, is never seen in a northern
latitude. The States most severely threat
ened this wear are Delaware ana New
and Western New York, and in
two or three days we may expect 20 see
newspapers giving accounts of the devas-
tatiOn caused by the beetles in those
States. The consideration of the grass
hopper East is wholly turned to that of the
beetle.