Connecticut western news., 1878-02-07
PESTS OF THE CENTURY.
The Great Potato Bug..269, POO, ,OOO, ,00@
 ' Great Children Within Six

PESTS OF THE CENTURY. P
 me Great Potstoz Bug=-sse, 10000, ,oae
 I Great at-lSreat-tarand-Childre Within Six
 IA Sun correspondent, who interv1ewed sEdr. Fuller, of Ridgewood, N. J., who
 las given the potato bug so much atten-
 on, says that the potato bug evidently eprang into existence near the Black Hills, Por the Big Horn country. For, centuries it fed upon the wild solanum,
 it's numbers being limited by the quan- tity of food. The solanum is found
 along the Rocky mountairs, as far south as New Mexico. The Pike's Peak ex- citement broke out in 1858. There was d rush for gold. Men came together from every State in the Union. One out of 8 hundred turned his attention to farming, and tried to feed the ninety nine who were digging for gold. Pota- toes were planted, and the pest of the solanum found a more, palatable food. It got more nutriment from one acre of potatoes than from hundred acres of solanum. Every potato field in Colorado was covered with them, and the farmers in the new territory stood aghast at their numbers. %.Esl S<EfE ] They began to travel East. In 1860 they appeared in Kansas. They must have been carried there in wagons, for they are avy-bodied insects, and can fly but short distance. No sooner had they struck the potato fields of Kansas than they began to increase in propor- tio to the supply of food. The same VI they appeared in Nebraska, and in 1861 crossed the Missouri and invaded Towa. Within three years they spread through that State, and jumped. the Mississippi, into Illinois. "I remem- ber," said MT. Fuller, "that in 1865 Walsh and Riley, entomoIogists from Missouri, sent me several potato beetles found near Rock Island. 2 Here they are" He drew case of beetles from his cabinet and pointed them out. r.. |g At first, he said, the farmers were not alarmed. They did not regard the beetle as stranger, and averred that it had al lways been there. They had con- founded it with the juncta, and thought itihad learned new trick and gone to eating potatoes the same as schoolboys learn to chew tobacco. It was not until 1865 that the lamented Walsh discovered that the-bug, notwithstanding its very strict resemblance, was entirely distinct from the juncta, and that while both fed on the wild solanum, but one thrived on the potato. s@ #& I
 |s l's How do you know," tho writer in quired, ~"t that the juncta dees not feed upon the potato ?'' We'll" said the good-natured entomologist, cit some times costs something to find out some thing. sent to Alabama and got the 4o s4.,o o4o 1o, I>s beetles. I 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 potato leaves ate a few at first, but gradually grew weaker and weaker until they died. This proved that they might possibly feed on potato I vines if starved to it, but in the end they would be sure to die." EH E The most singular feature in the ad- vance of the potato bug is that they have crossed the Misslsslpp1 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 thata cold climate i is the best suited for the propagation oi the pest They were found in the south western 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 l Wisconsin. A northeast wind sent them ashore in southwestern Michigan and northern Indiana. In 1868 they began l to propagate in Indiana, and in July ot I f that year the second brood raised in In diana appeared in Ohio. Their progress eastward from that time was very rapid, and in 1873 they were discovered in east | ern Pennsylvania. All the time they | increased in numbers with the ratio o1 potato fields. Their rate of speed up to last fall has averaged over seventy miles year. The bug is not found south ot Maryland. The hot weather kills it, and it will never appear in the Gulf States, because it cannot live there.
 "During all this time,' continued MT. Fuller, entomoIogists 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 f become their feeding and breeding grounds. If 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 oi Lake Huron. Charles ". Riley, State EEntomologist of Missouri, mentioned this fact in his annual report. He told tho Canadians that the insect, for ten years past, had cost the Western States millions of dollars, and predicted it's spread over Canada within thirty months unless something was done to prevent it. He alluded to Uncle Sam's territory be. | yond the Niagara river, and said that dollars and cents could save it's potato patches. He warned both New York and Canada of their danger, and asserted that after tho insect had got footing within their borders, $1, 1,000, GOO would be freely speut to accomplish what few thousands could do if applied at the right time" 3s fl. .g', ''!That is what Riley wrote" MT. Fuller said, "and the New Workers and Cana
 dians paid no attention to him. What has been the result Eight years have elapsed, and they have already spent more than $1 ,OOO,O ,OOO for Paris greer and labor, a1d had short crops and more bugs in the bargain. How do you sup
 pose Riley was awarded? The State ot l Missouri dismissed him because they didn't want to pay him the paltry sun of &, ,0Q0 8 year, when, if they had availe6 themselves of his advice, 1t would have saved the country $100, ,000, 900 year.
 "How would you have prevented the spread of the bug ?" asked the writer.
 "They never should have been al l lowed to cross the Mississippi" replied MT. Fuller. "We all knew they were an. nually destroying crops in Colorado. A few hundred dollars rightly applied sissippi, where they belonged. As il