The Iola register., 1882-06-09
The Battle with the Bugs and Worms

menced the fight with insect life, with
the full knowledge that it must be kept
up until harvest time, if he would reap
full crop of either fruit or vegetables.
Almost every year brings to light some
new enemy; but man tires not; he exerts
himself to find some remedy for each
successive new destructive enemy; and
just as he begins to congratulate him.
self on being able to fully protect some
favorite fruit or choice vegetable from
all of its enemies, some new enemy more
difficult to destroy appears. Thus far
the race between the appearance of new
destructive insects and mans advancing
intelligence is kept about equal. BY
constant efforts and eternal vigilance
man is thus far able to protect the fruits
and vegetables of the earth to degree
necessary to furnish him with an abun-
dance of food. But should he for few
seasons cease his efforts to check the
ravages of the multitude of insects, he
would soon come short of many lux
uries, if indeed he did not have to submit
to short rations of the substantial things
of life.
One of the latest new comers on the
Atlantic coast of destructive insects, that
lives on human food is large white or
grayish worm, that eats its way into the
ears of corn just before it hardens. This
promises to be not only very destruc-
tive enemy. but one very difficult to de-
stroy. Should it spread over the vast
cornfields of the West it would destroy
hundreds of millions of bushels of corn:
already it has made q beginning that
looks serious indeed; it spreads rapidly,
and is now found scattered from the
prairies of the West to the Atlantic coast.
Every farmer should be careful to plant
corn grown in sections where this enemy
is not found, so if the eggs are in any
way attached to the corn, they may avoid
introducing so undesirable an enemy; but
we are inclined to the opinion that the
eggs are not laid until summer, and the
dangeris in transporting the grub. Until
we know more of the habits of this en-
emy every precaution should be taken to
avoid it; its habits should be carefully
studied the coming season, that we may
be better able to find aremedy.
Among the creeping enemies of the
garden there are few more destructive or
more difficult to manage than the gray
cut-worm. who seems to take pride in
cutting down whole row of beans or q
dozen hills of cucumbers. This enemy
must be dug out very early in the morn
ing and destroyed; as he works only in
the night he is very near the surface at
sunrise.
Among the bugs that fill the air the
rose bug tries our patience about as
much as any; while he is not particular
what he eats, he is sure to get our most
beautiful roses, and also our choicest
bunches of grapes as soon, or even be-
fore, the bloom is off; if we have some
new choice variety of apples he is sure
to try the flavor of them as soon as they
are as large as bullets, and though they
may be as hard as lead and as bitter as
button pear, he eats away upon them
with the same apparent relish he does on
choice rose. Hand picking early in
the morning is the surest remedy for this
enemy.
The farmer who is determined to sue
ceed must steel his heart against insect
life, and fight them with every weapon
his ingenuity can devise; but after doing
his best he will have to lose portion Of
his profits by the creeping things of ths
earth.-Massachusetts Psouohman.