The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-02-21
THE POTATO BUG.
The Origin, History and Travels Of this
Great Pest.

visited the office of Mr.. Andrew s. Ful.
Ter, the great collector of beetles. Mr..
Fuller was preparing box to send to
some eminent German collector. Among
others were several potato bugs. See
ing that the writer took IN interest in
the bug, and knew but little concerning
its history, Mr.. Fuller opened his fund
Of information.
The potato bug evidently sprang into
existence near the Black Hills, or the
Big Horn country. For centuries it
fed upon the wild solanum, its numbers
being limited by the quantity of food.
The solanum is found along the Rocky
mountains, as far south as New Mexico.
The Pixies Peak excitement broke out
in 1858. There was rush for gold.
Men came together from every State in
the Union. One out of n hundred turned
his attention to farming and tried to
feed the ninety-iline who were digging
for gold. Potatoes were planted and
the pest of the solanum found a more
palatable food. 1t got more nutriment
from one acre of potatoes than from
hundred acres of solanum. Every po-
tato field in Colorado was covered with
them, and the farmers in the new Terri
tory stood aghast at the numbers.
They began to travel East. In 1860
they appeared in Kansas. They must
have been carried there in wagons, for
they are heavy-bodied insects, and can
fly but short distance, as was shown
by the millions afoat along the coast
last year. No sooner had they struck
the potato fields of Kansas than they be-
gan to increase in proportion to the sup
ply Of food. The same year they ap-
peared in Nebraska, and in 1861 crossed
the Mississippi into Iowa. Within
three years they spread through that
State and jumped the Mississippi into
Illinois. az remember" said Mr.. Full
ler, "that in 1865 Walsh and Riley,
entomologists from Missouri, sent me
several potato beetles found near Rock
Island. Here they are" He drew
case of beetles from his cabinet and
pointed them out.
At first, he said, the farmers were not
alarmed. They did not regard the bee
tie as a stranger and averred that it had
always been there. They had con-
founded it with the juncta, and thought
it had learned new trick and gone to
eating potatoes the same as school-boys
learn to chew tobacco. 1t was not until
1865 that the lamented Walsh discovered
that the bug, Notwithstanding it's very
strict resemblance, was entirely distinct
from the juncta, and that while both fed
on the wild solanum, but one thrived on
the potato.
elbow do you KNOW" the writer in.
quired, "that the juncta does not feed
upon the potato %
"Well," said the good-natr,red ento
mologist, cit sometimes costs something
to find out something. 1 went to Ala
bama and got the iuncta in all its stages,
larvae, grubs and beetles. sent twice
before could get them alive. The first
time, owing to bad packing. they were
smashed in the post-office. I put them
in breeding cases and tried their tastes
for various plants. Those fed on potai 0
leaves ate few at first, but gradually
grew weaker and weaker until they died.
This proved that they might possibly
feed on potato vines if starved to it,
but in the end they would be sure to
die"
The most singular feature in the ad.
vance of the potato. bug is that they
have crossed the Mississippi and marched
east in five separate columns. The
northern column has been the most
rapid in it's movements, the southern
tagging away behind, showing that a
cold climate is the best suited for the
propagation of the pest. They were
found in the southwestern corner of
Wisconsin as early as 1862, and spread
over the State quite rapidly. In 1867
millions of them were blown into Lake
Michigan from northern Wisconsin.
A northwest wind sent them ashore in
southwestern Michigan and northern
Indiana. In 1868 they began to propa-
gate in Indiana, and in July Of that
year the second brood raised in Indiana
appeared in Ohio. Their progress east
ward from that time was very rapid, and
in 1873 they were discovered in Eastern
Pennsylvania. All the time they in.
creased in numbers with the ratio of
potato-felds. Their rate of speed up to
last fall has averaged over seventy miles
year. The bug is not found south of
Maryland. The hot weather kills it,
and it will never appear in the Gull
States, because it cannot live there.
"During all this time, continued Mr..
Fuller, " entomologists were warning
the people and urging them to take
steps to prevent the spread of the pests.
No action was taken. The bugs had
their own way, and the Northern States
have become their feeding and breeding
grounds. II the farmers had listened to
the naturalists, whole States might have
been saved. As late as 1870 Canadian
found bodies of the bugs on the shore OF
Lake Huron. Charles v. Riley, State
entomologist Of Missouri, mentioned
this fact in his annual report. He told
| the Canadians that the insect for ten
years past had cost the Western States
millions of dollars, and predicted its
spread over Canada within thirty months,
unless something was done to prevent it.
He alluded to Uncle Sans territory be-
yond the Niagara river, and said that
dollars and cents could not save its
potato patches. He warned both New
York and Canada of their danger, and
asserted that after the insect had got q
footing within their borders 81, ,000, ,00C
would be freely spent to accomplish
what few thousands could do if applied
at the right time"
THAT is what Riley wrote" Mr..
Fuller said, "and the New Workers and
Canadians paid no attention to him.
What has been the result? Eight years
have elapsed, and they have already
spent more than $1,000, 600 for Paris
green and labor, and had short crops
and more bugs in the bargain"
8" How would you have prevented the
spread of the bug ?" asked the writer.
"They never should have been allow
I II s.I NE