Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-07-10
THE JAPANESE BEETLE
COW M lssIONER MARsDEN SAYS
THEY ARE ON THE DECREASE.
The Good work Being Done In Homo.
luls ~ Imported Toads-Iady.
f. .. birds Now HssehinG.

seen by a BULLETIN man this
morning, and as usual had some
thing Of interest to give out. 1t
was brought out by an inquiry
from the scribe as to the ravages
of the Japanese beetle.
II have been looking into that
very matter since my return" said
the genial Com missioner, land I
find that although it is unfortu.
nately too true that the beetle has
made its appearance on the other
islands, still l am happy to
say we are getting the better
of the little pest here in Homo
lulu. I have visited great many
places since my return and ques-
toned the owners. They all
agree there are not nearly 80
many beetles this year as last.
This years crop, I may add, docs
not seem to possess the destruc-
tive energies Of last years beetles
either"
ITO what do you attribute the
decreasep" asked the reporter.
swell, partly to the inoculsting
process introduced by Professor
Koebele. That was a success as
far as it went but it did not
90 far enough. People did
not take interest enough in
the matter for their own good.
Some of them expect me to catch
the beetles and inoculate
them and distribute them
around afterwards. Then Pro-
lessor Koebele went away and l
could not devote my whole time
to the incubation Of beetles, and
it gradually stopped. But it will
be resumed next month after Pro-
lessor Koebele's return.
"But" resumed Mr.. Marsden,
the beetles have another and l
think in the end more powerful
foe than incubation and that is
the toad. We can catch beetles
and make them sick unto death by
incubation but We cant catch
all OF them. We have the
satisfaction of knowing now that
what we don't get the toads will,
sooner or later, and that the beetle
is finally doomed. 1t is four
years since introduced the first
lot of toads from Japan, and l
have at different times since liber-
ated other lots, several hundreds
in all. They have increased and
multiplied to such an extent that
there is scarcely a garden in Homo
lulu that does not receive a night
ly visit from them. Why there
was a man here little while ago
who told me his children caught
dozens of them every evening to
play with. The swamps and the
rice ponds are full of little toads
and there is no occasion to import
more. The toad, as you know, is
the gardeners friend. He lives
on any kind of bug or beetle and
should be treated kindly and en-
couraged instead of having stones
thrown al him as is too often the
case. I wish the public generally
would bear in mind that if they
don't want Japanese beetles
around their premises they should
see that the tosds are not killed OF
; ill.trested.
"As to the condition of affairs
on the other islands," said thu
Commissioner in reply to another
question, II cannot say much
except as to Kauai. That island
, has been sent supply of toad
and l am preparing to send more
whenever the beetle appears. Pro
lessor Koebele will be back OF
the Australia, l think, and viii
take the beetle in hand a
once. incubation will be start,
ed again and kept up, ant
: l hope the public will co-operat
with us. Without that we can
| do much, for it is no use to xii
beetles in one yard if they ar
allowed to thrive in the next"
Don't forget to tell your read
ers to let my frogs alone" sal,
the Commissioner as the reporte