The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-05-18
AND HELPFUL IN-
 SECTS.

Some Garden Pests and Their Ravages
 Flies, Beetles, and Bugs Which
 Prey Upon the Gardeners Enemies
 Toads and Lizards as Destroyers of
 Noxious Insects.
 The garden in springtime Is inter- esting to the average person, chiefly be- cause of the latent possibilities of the bursting seed and sprouting graft and shoot-promises of abundant green foli- age and luscious fruits and flowers and the lover of the beautiful and use- full in the vegetable kingdom watches with the interest of a student each un- folding leaf and blossom. But there is another interesting development of life that the average gardener has not been taught to take cognizance of, and the professional entomologist needs 10 be called in to appreciate and interpret it's meaning. With the first appearance of the bursting bud of leaf or flower, there is awakened in the garden an in- sect world that has been slumbering all winter, and whose future bearing upon the crops is more important than gar deners in the past have imagined. The scientific study of these garden and field insects has in recent years given us better comprehension of their won- derful activity and their tremendous powers for good or evil.
 They are not all destructive insects; there are friends as well as foes in the garden; but the latter predcminate ignorance that we failed to make any distinction between good and bad in- sects in the last quarter of century; but there is no excuse now why every one should not be taught to identify the prominent beneficial bugs, beetles, worms, and moths that swarm in our gardens and prey upon their kind. Very early in spring the eggs and cocoons of noxious insects may be lOuilu Ou IIecS diiu DuSleS u dlIIlOSL any garden. The saw-fly lays it's eggs on the gooseberry and currant-bushes long before the currant-worms appear, and the codlin-moth and plum-cur- culio are not much later in preparing for their summers work. The under part of leaves, if examined closely, will be found here and there blotched with and plum-trees, punctured by insects is teeming with countless germs of in- sects of fungoid diseases With the ex- l ception of those few insects which lay i their eggs in the fall in the ground, or | in the bark of trees, the whole army
 of pests make deliberate and careful preparation in April and May to multi ply their numbers for the summer cam-
 paign. Suddenly, in June, the garden seems to swarm with countless hosts | of worms, beetles, lice, spiders, flies, 1 and wasps, which bounce down upon the fruits and vegetables with much 1 greatness.
 The gardener of to-day prepares for the annual fight by fortifying himself
 with poisons and arsenic mixtures. | " Athoub waiting lOl lhc CiitlIicS tO dp- l pear, he sprays his trees and bushes long before the eggs have been hatch 1 ed. Thus he prevents complete ruin to
 his plants, and brings the insect world
 under control, even though he cannot entirely exterminate his foes. In this
 warfare his insect friends in the garden
 are destroyed along with the enemies,
 and under present conditions there
 seems to be no way to avoid it. The
 enemies are so much more numerous
 than the friends that possibly one is justified in exterminating all, irrespec- | tive of their relative positions in the economy of nature.
 But when summer comes and the in- sects have reached maturity, it is a i matter of policy to go into the garden and make a distinction between the friends and foes. A little study of the
 nature and habits of some of the nu-
 merous insects will convince one that there are insects that prey upon the
 worst pests of the gardens and or | chards. These pedaceous insects are found among very divergent species;
 some are large and ferocious- looking
 creatures, capable of offering battle to
 honey bees; and others are so small and l delicate in appearance that they seem
 little fitted for fighting purposes Yet
 they are all alike in the one essential
 particular; they conduct an endless and
 inveterate warfare against destructive
 insects. Nature has designed them to
 preserve a certain balance in the in-
 sect world, which otherwise might re-
 suit in the complete destruction of all plant life on the globe.
 We find insect destroyers even in the
 locust order. The curious praying
 mantis belongs to this class. This is one of the most interesting and preda- ceous of insects. It lives upon other in-
 seets, and does not hesitate to attack
 the beetle, worm or honeybee that hap l pens in its way. In the South it has