The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-08-12
AN UNCOMMON MISSION.
NOVEL CONTRACT FOR AN AMERICAN
IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Professor Bruncr, An Expert, Goes to Ar
gentine to Destroy IA Bug Plague-Fo1-
lowing Experiments, VIII lnoculate Lo-
Gusts With Swift, Death Dealing Disease
Professor Lawrence Bruner, entom-
ologist of the University of Nebraska,
arrived i'll South America on novel
of science against the locusts and
grasshoppers which have become de-
structive plague in Argentine for which
the government has just appropriated
81, 900, 900. He is promised large
bonus if he succeeds In destroying the
pests which are destroying the vege-
tation of that country and threatening
the rural districts with famine and the
commercial section with disaster.
.Conversing upon the subject of his
experiments and the details incident
TO destroy these bugs when they
threaten to become dangerous, Pro-
lessor Bruner said
''In order to carry out the plan of
exterminating this specie Of insect life
in Nebraska the authorities found it
necessary to have large number of
live, healthy locusts, chinch bugs,
grassLoppers OF other specimens that
were required to be destroyed. The
university therefore required farmers
whose fields were threatened by the
pests to send to the university small
number of these insects if they de-
sired AID. In return the university
sent to them supply of "sick" bugs
that could be used in communicating
the disease to the bugs in the field.
Full directions for using these inocu-
lated bugs accompanied each package.
We begin at first to secure supply
Of dead insects that had been killed
by the fungus known as sporotrichum
globul forum. The starters were re-
ceivedT from Nebraska farmers and
placed in our cages with healthy grass
hoppers. As rule no difficulty was
experienced in securing the spread of
this disease from the infected bugs to
the healthy insects in the laboratory.
The disease is dry rot, which causes
she bodies of the locusts and similar
specie to decay. Its spread is very
rapid and the result very fatal tire
sembles in somerespects leprosy in the
human family. The infected bugs
were then sent back to the farmers
with instructions to liberate them in
the field. In day or two every locust
in the field in which they were placed
was dead.
'Tn some Nebraska fields the in
sects thus treated have been reported
dead in great punches. These punches
are always found in moist places and
N shaded hooks. In Butler county last
year, near Augusta, the farm of Frank
Shannon was threatened with destruc-
lion and the adjacent farmers were
much alarmed The university was
appealed to and number of fungus
covered grasshoppers were sent to
that section. The insects covered the
ground in great numbers and In two
weeks the field was so full of dead
grasshoppers that the wind piled the
insects several feet high. They
gradually dried up and became pow.
der.
"The damage to Nebraska agricul-
ture from grasshoppers and locusts
during the past quarter Of century
,an scarcely be estimated. On several
occasions the pests have destroyed
every vestige of vegetation in many
counties of the western part of the
state. Since they never attain their
full growth until June and July, they
arrive just at the time when they are
most dangerous to farm property.
"Many farmers during the last
great plague tried ploughing trenches
around their fields and thus attempt
20 keep out the approaching army, but
the trenches were soon filed to over
flowing and the swarm would then
cross on the struggling bodies OF
those in the trenches. The every ground
appeared to be moving as the qulver-
ing mass continued the onward course
like an enormous billow. Railroad
trains were actually stopped still by
the mass of Shiny insects as they at.
tempted to pass over the rails and
were crushed beneath the wheels" /"
This is the condition of things IL
the Argentine Republic, where Pro,
/ lessor Bruner is to begin his work as
soon as he arrives, yet he is confident
that he can reduce the damage to a
minimum and destroy the insects abso
lutely and so throughly that they will
not be dangerous for years to come II
The same locality.