The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-10

bear wings which are more than half an
inch long Migration appears to be "A period
Of courtship and usually occurs in April
and May in this climate. At such times
they go forth in great hordes, but soon shed
their wings and commence the duties of life
in good earnest. On the 9th of last April
witnessed such an exodus from an old house
in Mount Carmel They emerged from the
stair casing in the hall: the house had
wooden UNDERMINING and was near the
ground. When the doors leading into the
hall were first opened the atmosphere and
walls were black with flying termites; there
must have been solid half bushel of them,
and the exodus continued for more than
three hours after the doors were opened.
No doubt the timbers in this house are
greatly damaged, and if these insects are
not checked or disseminated the whole
building will be destroyed by these lignip-
erdous insects. They have been known to
inject buildings, furniture, fences, trees,
shrubs, grape vines, herbaceous plants, gar
den vegetables, collections of books and pa
pers, bolts of cloth and brick walls. They
prefer To- work in dark, damp places: light
appears to be especially Injurious and Of
fensive to them as they always work I'M
der cover. So opposed are they to light
OF an object they invariably cover their
field of operations with a kind of mud or
clay under which theys construct passage
ways leading back to the termitory In this
manner they will often cover the surface of
fence palings, boards, posts, walls or trees
with their protective coverings But they
do the most serious damage when they in
fest the inside Of these objects. They fire.
quently riddle the entire interior of a piece
of furniture, large pieces of timber or the
walls of building with their galleries until
1T is so soft that one could push his finger
into it, or until it is so weak that it will
not bear its own weight, and yet there will
De no external evidences of it's damaged
condition. There are a humber of instances
on record where wooden bridges have un-
expectedly given way, with serious results,
from this cause when externally they ap-
cared to be entirely sound
DESTROY DWELLINGS.
Prof. 5. A. Forbes, our state entomoogist.
reports number of instances that have oc-
Cured in our own State where dwelling
houses and other buildings had become so
seriously infested that they had to he
abandoned and destroyed. Some of orr state
documents have been seriously damaged nv
this species of termite, both while thew
We're at Vandalia and since their removal
to Springfield. In the latter instance thev
appear to have penetrated the foundation
walls, which are eight feet thick. and in
tested four of the basement rooms in which
were stored valuable documents They usu-
ally entered bookcases by tunnels which
they made through the posts of the cases
where they rested on the floor; when they
came to the books they tunneIed through
hnr71 nd
So carefully hidden was their work that it
was not detected until four rooms had been
entered and much damage done. This insect
is thought to be a native of the greater
portion of the United States, increasing in
abundance as one goes southwark; it is
usually found in woodlands under decaying
logs and old stumps. But as these places
are cleared up and their homes are replaced
A4ef4ces- af4d Buildings, they attack these,
and it is natural to expect that they will
constantly become more injurious as these
changes continue to occur. At least, such is
the case in this county. I have at times
found this insect i'll decaying timber, in this
vicinity, for more than twenty-eight years,
but it is only during the few last years
that it has become damaging to fences and
buildings and / am convinced it is only
matter of short time when it will be
very serious and obstinate pest. 1t is COM
mon on fences, especially paling fences,
and posts. 1t seriously infests telegraph and
telephone poles, especially where the buried
ends of these have not been covered with
coal tar before being put into the ground.
The object of speaking of them at this
time is to call attention to the probable
danger from them in the near future. so
that they may be held in check while they
are yet in the more manageable stage. The
treatment is efficient, cheap and simple.
Gasoline appears TO be the best remedy
which we possess, but kerosene, benzine
and carbon bisulphide are also good they
should be poured into the galleries where
the insects are at work so as to saturate
the grounds, timbers and their nests. Boil
ing water is also an efficient remedy.
Where necessary the rubbish should first
be removed. so that the remedy can be
thoroughly applied.
During the past year we have found in
Mt Carmel, ILL.,, the San Jose scale CAS-
pidiotus perniciosus cornstock) in a strong
and rapidly increasing colony. The state
entomologist was at once informed of the
discovery In due time he sent specialists
to look over the extent of the infection,
and to destroy such trees as were thought
to be fatally injured and to carefully treat
those that could be saved. But the chances
for infection from the nurseries are so nu-
merous that it will be matter of great sur
prise if this is the only point in the county
that has been infected. Our infection has
been traced to two sources, Rochester, N.
Y, and Dayton, 0.
There is probably no known insect that
is capable of doing greater damage to our
fruit trees than this tiny scale insect. Prof.
L. o. Howard, chief of the Department of
Entomology at Washington, d. c., says of
it: ''It is not striking in appearance, and
might often remain unrecogniZed or, at
least, misunderstood, and yet so steadily
and relentlessly does it spread over prac-
ticaIly all deciduous fruit trees-trunks,
limbs foliage and fruit--that it is only a
question of two or three years before the
death of the plant attacked is brought
about. It's Importance from an economic
standpoint is vastly increased by the ease
with which it is distributed over wide dis
tricts through the agency of nursery
stocks and the marketing of fruits, and the
extreme difficulty of exterminating it where
once introduced. presenting, as it does III
the last regard, difficulties not found with
any other scale insect"
Prof. S. A. Forbes makes the following
statement: When to this general report of