New-York tribune., 1900-07-05
NATURES BALANCES.

1t never would occur TO the average man who
buys peck of peas now and then or raises
| few rows of them in his country garden that
the pea crop one in which millions Of dollars
are invested. Yet the scientists who have been
studying the new pea pest report that last year.
| when it first appeared it caused a loss in Mary
! land alone of $3,OOOOOO, that this year Mary
lands loss will be fully s., ,OOOOOO and that the
! destruction in the Atlantic Coast States will
amount to about $11,OOO,OOO. Yet the crop will
be by no means destroyed When the meaning Of
such figures is grasped it aids one to realize the
greatness of this country and its vast sources
OF wealth, the Importance OF which few under
stand. We talk about our iron trade and our
! cotton crop as if they were something eXtraOr
dinary. but alongside them are smaller, seem
ingly petty, industries which we never think Of
till something out of the common brings them
to attention.
The pest which Is not only destroying the
great pea fields of Maryland and the Southern
Atlantic States, but also those Of New-Jersey
Long Island and the maritime provinces of
Canada, is tiny louise which was never seen
by scientists till last summer. and was only
classified scientifically last February by Profes-
sor Johnson, the Maryland State Entomologist
1t is wonderfully prolific and covers the pea
vines in thousands, and has driven the experts
almost to their wits end in search for an anti
dOte for the new disease. The common method
of spraying plants with insecticides has not
been found available, for il kills the enemies of
the lice well as the lice themselves Mecban-
cal removal of the insects by brushes does some
good, but the greatest hope is placed on other
insects which find In the Nectarophora destruc-
tOr-which is the little creatures impressive
name-their heaven sent food supply The
farmers best friends in this matter are the
| la1I tJn
and the syrphus fly. They or their young devour
thousands of the lice and it is believed that If
properly protected they will get the upper hand
of the pest.
To the man who is neither a scientist nor n
pea grower the story of this sudden and wide
spread sCourge is interesting as suggesting the
question, Where do these new pests come from
Are these new creatures created 10 prey on our
crops one after another? If not why did we
never hear of them before? The discovery of
their cure in Natures own policemen of tho
insect world suggests the answer. They are not
new, but some disturbance has brought them
to notice. 1t is not known what the former
feeding ground Of these lice was. but they have
been found in clover, and it is possible that they
have lived long in small numbers upon it, Per
haps the condition of the clover or other usual
food. whatever II was. made ii bad nourishment
and they were driven to wholesale emigration
to the pea substitute. Perhaps the lady
beetles and other enemies last year were the
victims of a cataclysm, and so the lice were
! enabled TO increase wonderfully in number
This is the common rule of life The little lem
lning of the Siberian tundra the basic food
supply of that regions carnvora, is now found
to overrun a district and then for years is
absent, only gradually returning and becoming
numerous there again Some extreme of weather
or unusually favorable conditions for it's enc
mics have killed 1t off by the million and driven
The remnant to emigrate
10 nice is Natures balance that a trifing
'hlne may mean the difference between abound
ing vitality and practical determination. The