Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-09
SOME WASHINGTON BUGS.
New Carpet Pest Makes Its First APP
pearance Here.

pearance here.
TIE MYSTERY OF INSECT POWDER AND How II
WAS soLvED-oURIoUs FACTS ABOUT oocK-
RoAcHEs-THK FLEA MOST INTERESTING FROM
NATURAL HISTORY STANDPOINT.
o. ASHINGTON upholsterers have ap-
ANH.n pealed to the Department Of Agricult-
4lhHure regarding new bug that is making
WA\ k:rouble by reason OF its appetite for
VA carpets and rugs. II has first appeared
as carpet pest in Washington, but the gov
eminent entomologists told STAR reporter
that it will doubtless spread all over the coun-
try They have dubbed 1t the ''csrpet beetle. Z"
Before saying anything more about this in
teresting creature, however, it will be - we'll
to refer parenthetically to business TO which
the Department Of Agriculture has given some
encouragement in California
For some centuries past . mysterious farm
ing industry has been carried on in Persia and
Dalmata, which has supplied the world with
powder for the destruction of insects. For
hundreds Of years the nature Of this powder
remained unknown, the secret being handed
down from father to son. All that any one
understood was that the stuff produced was Of
vegetable nature, and that it was simply
deadly to insects of every kind.
But where commercial enterprises are con-
cerned, secrets are apt to come out Monks
brought sllkworms. prohibited of export, from
CHINA into Europe inclosed in walking staffs;
some day the ingredients of India ink" will be
dlvulged. In 1928 an Armenian merchant
named Jumtlkof succeeded in getting hold Of
the insect powder secret and began manufact-
urlng the product in Trans aucasia. But, not
lacking appreciation of the value Of his knowl-
edge, he made no communication on the sub
trayplprs nd anil iaI in for
years after to obtain the precious information.
SEEDS OF THE PLANT
were repeatedly brought and planted in Eu-
ropean soil; but they would not grow, for the
simple reason-as was subsequently discov-
ered-that they had all been carefully baked
by the ingenious Persians and Dalmatians be-
fore exporting them. Naturally this interfered
with results but finally a United States consul
did secure few unbaked seeds OF the plant in
1881, and during the next year the Department
or Agriculture circulated them widely
strangely enough, however, only one farm es-
tabhshed for the preservation of the plant ex-
lists at present in this country. 1t is located
near Stockton, Cal, is 800 acres in area and
produces very large part of the insect powder
at present used in the United States.
The insect powder plant is so much like the
common field daisy that you would hardly
know the difference. In Persia it has red
petals, but In Dalmatia white petals; the Dali
matlan variety is the sort cultivated in Califor-
MIA. 1t is planted in the spring and the plants
are transplanted into rows before the winter
rains begin From the second year on they
bear profitably. 1t is ignorantly supposed that
the powder employed is merely the pollen, but
the fact Is that it is obtained by
grinding up, the entire flower, petals
AND all Men collect the flowers by
cutting them off from the plants in punches
with STEMS using sharp knife for the purpose
The picker takes the flowers to a sort of iron
comb with teeth just big enough to accommo-
date the stems He introduces the blossoms to
the comb, gives jerk and the flower parts roll
off into basket. while the stems are thrown
aside. Thus gathered the flower heads are
sent in sacks to mill at Stockton. where they
are ground by mill stones and passed through
hne sleeves, so that only the finest powder falls
through, to be put up in cans for market.
When the factory in California was first started,
In 1876, the price of its product was $l6 a
pound. Now it is sold at retail
FOR FORTY CENTS A POUND.
Scientific men think it very curious that hu-
man beings should not be affected by powder
SO destructive to insect life. Undoubtedly the
"pyrethrum," as the plant is called, contains
volatile oil, the fumes from which when it
evaporates kill the insects by asphyxia. 1t is
most deadly to bees, ants. wasps and other high
grade insects. but bugs of all kinds succumb
to its effects, the carpet beetle among the
rest.
This carpet beetle, which has chosen Wash
ington as the first place to make its appear
ance in as a domestic destroyer, is destined
soon to spread through all American cities; at
all events, the division of entomology in the
Department of Agriculture so declares 1t
hides in cracks and eats canals through the
carpets, much as does the buffalo bug, which
it resembles somewhat Curiously enough, by
the way, the buffalo bug does not
live in this city at all; 1t only thrives
north of the Baltimore latitude and has not
thus far got further west than Chicago. though
1t already swarms in all the towns between
New York and the metropolis by the lake. 1t
was introduced to this country from Europe
OF which it is a native, in 1874, being brought
over to Boston in a batch of carpets consigned
to a firm in that city. Ohio has only known il
during the last two or three years;
doubtless it will reach the Pacific coast
before long. 1t is an interesting fact that
the new carpet beetle is not novelty as pest:
it has been known for u long time past but
only as a museum destroyer" addicted to at
lacking edibles to be found in collections, such
as dried spiders, stuffed birds and skeletons
out of which the grease has not been thoroughly
dried. This bug has seriously damaged the
million dollar royal cloak of feathers brought
hither from the Sandwich Islands and now on
exhibition in the National Museum.
THE DOMESTIC coCKRoAcH.
1t is a melancholy thing to record the fact
that bugs imported from abroad almost inva-
riably drive out the native American insect of
like species by the operation of the law which
determines the survival Of the fttest. This has
been the case with the domestic cockroach
The common black cockroach in this country
today is an immigrant from the shores OF
the Mediterranean. very bold and fierce
and is much given to travel, so that it
is often called the "ship cockroach"
1t has made its way all over the world. and
within the last few years has almost driven the
brown American cockroach once SO numerous
out of existence. The fate of the brown cock
roach closely resembles that of the black rat
which has been wiped off the surface of this
continent by the bigger brown ship rat" from
Persia. The brown cockroach grows to be
about as big the black cockroach-an
inch in length that is-but the Euro
pean cockroacn has been familiar with the
conditions OF civilization for many more Gen.
turtles and Is thus better able to adapt him self
to circumstances as he finds them here; hence
his survival. according to Prof. Riley's theory
The most successful cockroach i'll this country
today is the so-called "Crotoa bug" which
came from Germany and first excited attention
at the time when the laying of the Croton
water pipes gave opportunities for the dstri-
button of the Species
Notwithstanding popular prejudice to the
contrary, the cockroach is insect of very
cleanly habits; it takes the greatest care of its
person and Is constantly engaged in washing
itself as cat does, drawing it's antcnne
through its jaws to nloisten them. Not all
cockroachos live in dark and dirty places;
there is a kind native to the West Indies that
lives in the tops of trees and shrubs. The cock
y, nd ii h. n