The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-21
INTERVIEWING ENTERTAINMENTS.

NA' N@NH@SoALN0 At~AE AHb T 4h sNNf st's
 It appears that the national bureau of entomology is, in the interest of human happiness, busily engaged in the propagation of bugs that will wage destructive war upon other bugs. This is a matter of general interest. The farmers, who have to deal with the potato bug and other critters" that prey upon their growing crops, will await with special attention the success of the experiment in question. The Baltimore Sun notes that this matter has special interest in Maryland ow- ing to the evils wrought by the San Jose scale in the Maryland peach or chards, and adds '"The object of the culture is to ascertain exactly what in- sect feeds upon the San Jose scale or the Colorado potato bug, propagate that particular bug and turn him loose upon his prey. The great trouble with all these experiments is that the culti- 'NSS' oNS tEo cPI lo iltthS LlilloSiN iiohS disagreeable than the bug to be exter- minated. The English sparrow was turned loose in New York to eat the worms on the walks in the park. But it soon became apparent that the worms were greatly to be preferred to the sparrows. It is generally conceded that the hornet feeds upon the house fly, and yet we would prefer the house fly to a swarm of hornets buZzing over the dinner table. In propagating in- sects to destroy other insects it might be well for the chronological bureau to temper their zeal with discretion. In southern Maryland a pest destroyer is cultivated with success. In tobacco growing countries a strange-looking insect, with a miniature cable coiled up at it's mouth, locally known as the horn blower lays it's eggs on the to- bacco plants. These eggs speedily hatch into green worms. which eat the leaf of the tobacco with amazing rap- idity. To meet the tobacco worm as he advances the planter has prepared the Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey esteems the tobacco worm as an arti- cle of food, eats him and fattens upon him marvelously, so thatwhen Thanks giving day comes the tobacco worm has been converted into the succulent tur- key to grace the festive board and make it groan under the weight there- of. Perhaps it might be well for the American bureau of entomology to confine it's efforts to raising turkeys for distribution among the honest farmers''
 And now comes the Providence Jour nal with the following regarding cheer ing contemplated raids upon the in quisitive, ubiquitous and wicked rnos- quito: s'The discovery that the mos quito can be suppressed is leading some States, if one is to believe the newspapers, to plan campaigns against them for the next year or two. In Missouri Mosquito Commissioner is to be appointed. In Louisiana the real reformers of the intelligent communi- ties afe raising the question of having a similar official named. It is hard to be serious about such a matter, but what a boon 1t would be for millions if the mosquito pest colId be eradicated! Entire square miles of suburban prop erty now neglected in almost every quarter of the country could be con- verted into happy residential sites if only sleep were made possible to it's residents by night. Think of the mill lions of dollars worth of improved real estate and new happiness which would thus spring into existence"