The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-09

etc., will have to be furnished outside
! of salary, and are estimated to not eN-
| coed $1,000 per annum. The whole cost
for three years viii therefore not eX-
coed $4,000. IT is of the utmost i'm
portance that this work be entrusted
to none other than a skilled entomolo-
gist, as Mr.. Koebele said in one of his
letters, the life, history and habits of
| each parasite and predaciOus insect
must be studied, and the greatest care
! exercised that such insects as are sent
are free from their own particular
parasite, as il is well known that most
of the predacious insects and parasites
have their own particular parasites
| which keeps them in check. The
| most brilliant example of Mr.. Koe-
| bele's work was the searching out and
| discovering of the Australian LADY,
| bug (Vedalia Cardinatis) and its in
| PRODUCTION into California. The fol-
! lowing extracts from Bulletin No. 81
of the state board of horticulture will
| show what good work was done IN
California by the vedalia:
"But for the timely arrest and prac-
| teal determination of the cottony
| cushion scale, the final results Of its
devastation would have been meal
culable. The damage caused by its
| lars, and the wisest heads predicted
| that unless some sure cure as proven
| tive should be secured, the time was
| not far distant when our beautiful and
fruitful orchards would become barley
| fields, and the oil time business of
pasturing the lands with sheep and
cattle would soon return. We had
heard that there was q parasite in
Australia that had almost entirely
exterminated the cottony cushion
scale, and it was to get these parasites
that Mr.. Rochelle was sent to Austria
liza. The parasite was known as the
LeStopOneS, q minute fly that pune
tured the scale, laid its egg, which
Matched out into a grub that made its
meal of the scale, changed into fly,
to again repeat its work.
Mr.. Albert Koebele left San Fran
cisco for Australia on August Goth,
1883, and arrived at his destination in
due season. He Immediately sent a
supply of the lestOpones to this
country, which were duly taken care
of on their arrival. In the meantime
Mr.. Koebele went to work to thor
oughly investigate the scales, their
parasites and their workings, and was
not long ia discovering what our Aus
tralian friends had not done, that the
"Boss" scale destroyer was an entirely
different kind of parasite. 1t was the
ladybird, the VedaLi0 CdrdiRdtid, he
found 10 be the principal enemy of the
cottOny cushion scale, and he was not
long in dropping Mr.. Fly and making
the acquaintance of her ladyship Miss
Vrdalia Cirdinalia. He captured sew
eral colonies of beetles and their
larvae. The first importation reached
here November 30th, another Deem
Der Goth, 1883, anu still another JAN
uary 9th, 1889. These colonies were
sent to the Wolfskill orchard in Los
Angeles, and Dobbins and Chapman's
orchards at San Gabriel, under the |
care of Professor d. w. Coquillett, of
the Genealogical staff, department of
agriculture. They soon multiplied |
and increased something after the |
form of geOmetrical progression. |
Mr.. Wolfskill and his foreman, Mr.. |
Alexander Craw, who knew all the |
time "that there must be such an |
enemy in Australia" together with |
Professor Coquiilett, distr buted thous- |
ands to the anxious orchardists, who, |
hearing of their wonderful work, |
fiocked in to get them. The same |
work was going on at the ranch OF
Colonel CT. r. Dobbins, at San Ga |
brieI, where the colonel and his help |
gave their entire time to making up |
and distributing colonies to all who |
came for them, and they came from |
far and near. The work of the veddlia |
in Honolulu is too well known to need |
any account in this report. Suffice to |
say that the town was cleared of the !
cottony custom scale by the little lady |
bird.
A few of the vedalias were brought |
in q small box and let loose. In q few |
weeks time the trees We're swarming |
with them, and the cottony cushion |
scale disappeared like magic. An
other instance of Mr.. Koebele's skill |
in discovering the natural enemies of |
scale insects was his finding out and |
importing to California different |
lady bird, the orebus choLybeus, or |
steel-colored ladybird. This insect is
doing wonders in destroying the red
scale that has been such a pest to the |
citrus fruit growers of California. A
great many thousands of dollars have
been spent by the orchardists in their
efforts to get rid of this pest by spray
ing and gas treatment, and have only |
succeeded in keeping it partially in |
check now. The little steel c0lOred |
lady bird is doing the work for nothing |
and doing it well. That parasites |
may be found for all our blights and |
insect pests is reasonably certain if |
the work is entrusted to competent |
hands, and in Professor KoebeIe we |
will find a gentleman skilled in ento-
mology, an interchangeable worker who
will spare no efforts to attain success
if the work is entrusted to his hands, |
and L would urge upon your honorable |
body to devise ways and means to (
provide funds in order to secure Pro- |
fessor Koebele's services. In this con- |
nection l would suggest that the pub
lie be invited to contribute a portion |
of the sum needed. l am of the opin-
ion, from the offers of financial assist |
ance already received, that one half |
the amount (S75O0) would be contri- |
buted by those interested in the culti- |
walton of coffee, sugar, fruits, etc., and |
the government should be asked to |
appropriate a like amount, in order to |
relieve the country of the many pests !
that weigh so heavily upon our agri- |
culture.
Respectfully submitted,
j. MARSDEN, |
Commissioner of Agriculture and For |