Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-25
[XTHEN NJ. PAsTEUR A FEW YEARS AGO

WHEN NJ. PAsTEUR FEW YEARS AGO
w proposed to kin off the rabbits of
Australia by introducing among them . con-
tagious disease of fatal character, humani-
tarians disgustedly cried, ..Ohr' What will
| they think Of similar plans which bid fair to be
widely adopted before long for wiping out
| various bugs that attack the cropsr
There is the cabbage worm." for example
| an otherwise innocent creature, about an inch
and half long, with special appetite for the
vegetable in question. 1t is subject to a singu-
lar and very deadly disease. caused by bacteria,
as consumption and typhoid fever are in man.
Does the latter sympathize with the unhappy
| caterpillar OH that account? On the contrary,
scientists arc forming plan for spreading the
! complaint among cabbage worms in general to
such an extent that the species shall be ex-
terminated. Prof. Galloway. who superintends
the government plant hospital has just re-
ceived. SO a STAR reporter is informed, small
consignment Of germs Of the malady
| from Florida, where the insect commits
great havoc, and he is propagating them
by myriads artificially in corked tubes filed
with gelatine. 1t will be easy enough to prepare
quantity OF beef tea-on that diet all bacteria
greedlly feed and mult1ply-and transform it
within few hours by simply introducing a few
as an ingredient into solution. every drop of
which contains thousands of lively microbes
All that theoretically remains will be to spray
the liquid, as II IL were any insecticide, upon
tho infested cabbages, and any worm that 10
touched by particle of it must die.
HOW THE BACTERIA ATTACK THE CATERPILLAR.
The manner in which these bacteria attack
and consume the caterpillar is quite astonish-
ing. AS a rule, they begin by assailing the
third seumept of the animal frop, .bo tail
They literally eat it up. Transforming its fieshy
| substance into 80 much decomposed matter,
| and 80 quickly do they do their work that the
victim Is dead usually within twenty -four hours
after it is first inoculated.. 1t turns gradually
from bright green to brown and finally to
biack-a loathsome corpse. Within four days
the worm isso completely absorbed by the NOR
bid process that nothing is left of it save lit
orally grease spot Specimens sent to Prof.
Galloway in wooden pill boxes have disappeared
entirely within "a week, each individual leaving
only small stain to show that once there had
been q caterpillar.
Not only does the sprinkling serve to dis
seminate the fatal complailD but the latter is
spread also by every infected worm wherever
1t goes. SO that half dozen might distribute
the epidemic through whole cabbage patch
and BIZ rid it OF every caterpillar within a few
days. The bacteria are readily procured for
propagation from the cadavers of the insects
killed, which are filled with germs, Of course.
A platinum wire introduced into the sub
! stance Of one Of tho black and shrivelled bodies
and thereupon touched to some gelatine in a
tube will produce q thriving colony off hand.
The truck gardener eau easily be taught to
manufacture his own bacteria solution half o
! barrel full at a time, for distribution with an
an atomizer. and the natural spread Of the dis
ease will clear whole districts of the worms
more or less permanently. Such, at all events
Is the theory.
TO EXPERIMENT. on THE cHINcH BUG.
1t remains to be seer what will result from
similar measures that are being taken against
the chinch bugs in the west, which do such
enormous damage to wheat, corn and other
grains, getting into the funnel-shaped part Of
the leaves, where they join the stalks and suck
! ing the sap of the plants until they die. PROF..
Snow OF Kansas Is trying, with the aid of
$1,000 appropriation. to introduce among the n
two different bacterial diseases OF q fatal ma
ture, and surprising accounts are given Of the
manner in which few inoculat-d insects dis
tribute epidemics far and wide among their
kind, causing destruction to myriads. Other
bugs elsewhere in the United States are to be
attacked in like manner with such complaints
as are best calculated to destroy them. 1t is
| thought that the malady SO deadly to the cab
bage worm may be equally fatal to other OBJ
| noxious insects Of different species. and ut the
"A view to inoculating the boil worm OF the cot
ton with this very disease. The latter. secret
ing itself in the boil of the plant. is not easily
reached by ordinary insecticides.
In addition to the two bacterial diseases re-
ferred to the ruthless scientists OF Kansas are
trying to inOculate the chinch bugs wholesale
with fungus complaint. Insects arc very La
BILE to troubles OF this sort. When you see ty
stuck upon a windowpanc and surrounded with
sort OF halo or white cobwebby substance the
latter Is fungus by which it has been de-
youred. Often you viii find moths afflicted in
like manner. Abroad, for some years past
efforts have been made to exterminate locusts.
cut worms and many other destructive bugs by
spreading fungus diseases among them, with
partial success creature corresponding to
theJune bug OF this country does great damage
to forests i'll Europe, and it is at present being
attacked by the same means. Germs are easily
got by soaking the fungi in water, and can be
propagated like the bacteria for spraying.
Moreover, every insect infected distributes the
spores OF the fungus, corresponding to seeds,
wherever 1t goes and thus the affection is dis
tributed. The most remarkable bug-eating
fungus is mushroom that grows out OF a cat.
erpllar, literally Transforming the animal into
vegetable 1t is much priced in some parts
OF the world as o delicacy for eating.
Nature 80 provides that whenever an insect
destructive to vegetable life becomes over
abundant it is Immediately attacked by dis
ease, fungus or bacterial, which breaks out
spontaneously. In 1886 the web worms we're
SO numerouS in Washington that all the trees in
VIC sticetS anu purks were stflppeu w them to
nakedness. Immediately bacteria and fungi
attacked the caterpillars, killing 80 per cent Of
them, according to the reckoning of the De-
partment Of Agriculture, and the next year
there was hardly any. Two bad chinch-buR
years never come together. As quickly as
they reach such numbers as to oyerset
natures balance OF life epidemics wipe
them out Wholesale. 1t is the same way with
all sorts Of other bugs. The inevitable cpl
demic each time reduces the sw arming tribe to
q few, which grow in numbers year after year
until the season comes for another plague to
reduce them to the bottom of the scale again,
and SO ad iufnitum
10 illustrate the rapidity with which microbes
multiply, it Is stated on eminent scientific du-
thority that il all the oceans of the world
were composed Of beef tea O single bacterium
would fill them up solid with its progeny within
thirty days.
THE PHOSPHATE BEDS IN FLORIDA
An expedition Of the geological survey has
just returned from Florida, whittier it was sent
to investigate the newly discovered phosphate
beds in that state, which arc undoubtedly tho
most wonderful deposits Of their kind in the
world.
For q period covering SO many millions of
years that no one would ever think OF trying to
reckon the time, these beds were being formed
under the sea by billions of generations of mol
lusks and other shell fish, big and little, which
died and added their limy remains to the stead
lily increasing deposits. Thus when the ocean
retreated banks Of lime appeared above the
surface, innumerable sea fowl occupied them
fop xipsy nd fhoir ;vsl