The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-05-23
THE NEW INSECT.
An Interesting Letter From Prof. y.
Robinson. The Result of
E.xperinlent.

Robinson. The Result of
Experiment.
You were Kind enough 70 refer in Your
last issue to brief conversation Of ours
in regard to the new insect pest which is
doing so much injury 10 the orange
groves of this portion Of the state NJ
that time had not examined the insect
sufficiently to give even a guess to its
classification. had. 10 he sure. been
spending what little leisure time could
command in attempting 10 discover some
insscticlde which would rid us of this
new and troublesome pest. The insect
is altogether too minute TO be critically
examined except with the aid of a pow
erful microscope. This requires special
preparation, mounting. etc; in other
words. 4 day or two leisure time. which
just now other and pressing duties have
prevented. To-day made with an or.li
nary hand glass rs good an examination
as this little perpetual motion would
permit. | could not persuade one of the
ttlerascals to stand still long enough so
that could have COOL look al him.
As the question Of placing our unwelr0me
little visitor turns mainly on the num-
Ter Of his legs. | da my best To cOunt
them. IL. as | think. he cen be- credited
with eight. somebody with better EYES
orQuieter bugs can confirm or correct
me. presume we shall not go far
wrong in referring to our new acquaint
anceto the sub.Order AcarinH or mites
aud the family Trombididor. of which
that common pest Of the green
house, the red spider. is a familiar "a
ample. Indeed, in.its habits and the
character of its rayages this insect very
closely resembles the one named. Ii
may turn out to be the ordinary red spi.
der changed in color by the charar,er Of
its food. More likely it is some closely
allied species.
The prima facie evidence is quite
strong that our new acquaintance Is at
least closely related to the red spider.
This welt known plague of the green.
house is the most invunerable Of all in
sects pests. They thrive in hot. dry at
mosphere. They poison the leaves they
infest The injury done is altogether
ont Of proportion to the size of the in
sects and the quantity of plant Juices
they consume. In MI these respects the
new pest ia singularly good copy or
singularly bad race,
Now rs to remedies. which is the all
important question. II my conjecture
is correct, we have very tough little
customer to deal with. Our visitor, like
the red spider, thrives on most insect
cides. Coal oil emulsion, Paris green.
sulphur, ETC., are about as good as So
much water. Indeed. water is one Of
the things that these mites don't like.
tobacco smoke il the remedy. A green
house can bc readily closed up and fu.
migate1. An orange grove isa differ.
ent affair. Attempts have been made to
fumgatc orange trees by surrounding
them with canvas tents, but with very
Indifferent success. The only hope Of
practical results lies in the direction Of
some insecticide which can be applied in
the form of spray. With this view |
have been experimenting. II is perhaps
too early tO claim complete success. i:fcel
justified. however. in saying this |
have found two substances that promises
we'll The first, Mr. Jacocks. well
know.t as one of the most careful and
experienced orange growers. and who
has been applying the various remedies
that have prepared. reports Il perfect
success. The objection to it is that it is
an active poison, and it will have to hc
use,l with great ere. Judicionsly APP
piled it will I've no more dangerous than
Paris green. tons Of which are employed
every year at the north in fighting pota.
to bugs. The other remedy, though in
no sense leleterious to higher forms Of
animal life. is not so reliable. requires
.everal applications. and is altogether
less satisfactory in It's results. ] intend
to prepare some few packages of both
these remedies for free distribution
among orange growers, in order that
the matter may he thoroughly tested
\ word as to the probable occasion of
this pest Although the insect is appa-
rently new enemy to the orange grow
ing interest, | am not at all certain that
it is a recent importation. | presume it
has always been here, but that certain
unusual conditions have given il an
enormous development. Some of those
conditions are obvious enough. The ex-
IRENE cold of last winter, though it did
not kill the trees or perhaps to outward
appearance greatly impair their vigor,
nevertheless left them in Il really enfce
bled condition, less able to resist the at
tacks Of disease or insect enemies. In
addition to this the very best friends that
The orange grower had upon his trers-
the lady bngs" tcoccinelael whose bus.
mess it has been to keep down the
army of scale insects, aphids, mites and
all the other parasitic nusances that
would otherwise make orange growing
impossible-were nearly all killed by the
cold. Indeed, it is hot improbable that
right here is the explanation of the whole
matter. II is case Of the survival of
the uniittcst." These tough little rascals.
the mites. probably care rs little for cold
as for coal oil But their natural enc.
mics, the lady bugs, were sweep into "A
common grave with the golden fruit
they had protected. The equilibrium of
nature will doubtless bye and bye be r.
storee. but just no" the mites have the
hest Of it and the trees the worst of it
and the lady bugs-well. | wish knew
somebody who had few hundred thou
sand 'for sale or rent. N. Robinson,
in Orlando Sentinel.
In Chicago the other day when
the Waterman of he board Of trade