Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-09-01
HAVE INVADED TIE CITY
Tree and Grass Pests Which Have
Made Trouble Elsewhere APP
pear in Marshalltown.
The Boil Worm and a Minute Red
Spider Causing an Autumn APP
pearance In Localities.
Appearance and Methods of Opera
ton Of the Two Pests-The
Elms Suffer.

Autumn, with its sere and yellow
leaves and brown lawns, has not yet
arrived, but the boil worm and the red
spider have, and the effects on vegeta-
ton are much the same.
Just at the present time entomolo-
gist have something besides the semi
mythical kissing bug to experiment on,
and gardeners and park tenders are
turning gray in their efforts to preserve
the vegetation in their care. In Chicago
and other localities these pests are
working havoc, and now Marshalltown
has been invaded by both the worms
and the spiders. In various
turning brown and Investigation will
show the presence of small brown or
black worm, and on some of the trees.
notably the elms, the leaves are yellow
and beginning to fall. What connection,
f any, these two insects have is not
known, but nevertheless they have APP
peared almost simultaneously.
The worms invading the lawns do not
kill the grass, but eat it as they go
along. After they disappear the grass
springs up again. The worms have
somewhat the appearance of small cat
erpillars, with brown or black bodies.
They are the boil worms, which always
have been so destructive to cotton in
the south and corn in the north. The
worm is known to entomologists as he'll
lothis armigera. AT maturity it meas
ures 1.57 inches in length and varies in
color according to the skin. which ii
mouths four or Ave times and accord
| ing to the food it finds. 1t produces ar
extremely pretty moth. Professor Riley
described ~ infinitely in 1855. In one
year that worm caused 100000 dam
age to the cotton crop, and its depreda.
tions on corn have been enormous. The
nelanolestes picipes, the alleged kiss
ing bug" is the greatest enemy of this
worm. A destroyer of the worm is paris
green mixed with plaster or flour.
1t is next to Impossible to stop the
| nuisance. The Insects. work with won,
derful rapidity and spot that is greer
| today will be yellow tomorrow.
| The red spider-a tiny animal which
can perch comfortably 200 strong within
single inch-is the pest attacking tn.
| trees. Half a dozen would not be over,
| crowded on the head of pin +. b
! Chope, entomologist of the Field muse
UNI in Chicago, has examined speci
| men under the microscope and de
| scribed it as "a spider with eight whit
legs and two feelers, also white. 1t ha
two longitudinal dark stripes on II
body, with a few minute, white hairs
Moves rapidly when disturbed.
/ The red spider begins It's attack o,
the leaf by weaving web on the unde
side, wherein its eggs are laid ant
Matched. The parent and young live OF
the juices of the leaf, which soon curl
up and drops from the tree. The depre
dations of the insect may be verified b,
examining the leaf closely. If there APP
pears a fuzzy white substance on tn,
under side the eggs have been matched
and the spiders are gone. The pest il
the greatest foe with which gardener.
have to contend. and is especially pre-
valent in greenhouses and on all soft
| wooded plants. This year, however, tn,
| insects have extended their operation.
/ and left blighted in their path the haru
/ lest trees.
] Other conditions have operated to thu
| detriment of the trees and made man,
an easy prey which in other years hav,
successfully withstood the advances o
the spiders The extreme depth I,
which the frost penetrated last white
injured the trees. In this condition o
/ weakness countless billions of the in
vading insects began their devastation
and the disappearing foliage is the re
suit.