The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-08
INJURIOUS INsECTs-sOME FUNDAMEN-
TAI PRINCIPLES REGARDING THEM

|
Increasing Number of Crop Pests.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Farmers, as we'll as truckers and
/ fruit growers, are obliged to keep up
a constant warfare with injurious in
sects if they are to secure a proper
remuneration for their labors. Thus,
1.-THE apple, our most common and
highly priced fruit, is subject to seri-
Gus attack in this State, from not
less than eight standard pests, as
| follows: Scurfy scale, San Jose
scale, wOolly aphis, green apple
! aphis, fiat head bOrer, round head
borer, cOdling moth, and tent cater
! pillar. Corn, one of the staple crops,
is liable to serious injury from a no
less number, to-wit: Army worm,
corn worm, corn root worm, cut
worms, wire worms, white grubs,
bill bugs and chinch bugs. The
above mentioned insects do not by
any means include all those which
attack these plants, but they are
only those that occur to the mind of
the writer at the present time, with
out even referring to any articles on
the subject.
If our older farmers will look back
ward for fifty years, or even less,
they will at once realize that in their
boyhood, the number of pests was,
not so great, nor we're their attacks
so serious, as at present; and to find
out the reasons for these differences,
as we'll as to discover remedies for
the pests, is the work of the ento-
mOlOgiSt. And it is because of late
years our insect pests have come so
much mtre prominently into notice
than formerly, that States are now
laying more stress upon entomology
Cal work than ever before.
Now the entOmOlOgist, in spite of
any suppositiOns to the contrary, has
no remedy to offer for injurious in
sects that does not imply labor in its
application, and he has little patience
with the man who writes for infOr-
nation, declines to follow advice,
and then complains of his losses. In
furious insects will be from this time
henCefOrward a permanent factor in
farming and horticulture, and the
men engaged in these pursuits need
to meet the problem, not try to hide
from it.
Probably ninety-fve per cent. of
the farmers of North Carolina have
one or more apple trees, upon which
they depend to supply them with
wholesome fruit. Probably one third
of the crop which these trees would
produce is destroyed each year by
the cOdling moth alone, and of these
not less than seventy-fve per cent.
might be saved by the proper appli-
cation Of the proper insecticide at
the proper time Nevertheless, the
farmer allows his tree to shift for it.
good, bad, and Indifferent. The
writer does not propose to discuss
the matter Of insecticides at this
time, but simply to point out the
places where the farmer needs to
mend his methods if he is to combat
these enemies rightly.
For the tobacco grower, one Of the
worst enemies is the flea beetle,
which causes small holes in the
leaves, and the proper application of
. insecticides in the fall of the year,
after the crop IS harvested, will les
sen their numbers materially for the
next season. Nevertheless, not one
tobacco grower in twenty takes the
least precautiOn against them.
The same story might be repeated
with regard to dozen of the stand
ard pests, but the writer forbears to
carry the illustration further.
Let US now see if the numb bers of
serious insect pests is greater than
formerly.
The San Jose scale was unknown
in the East until about twenty-five
E! years ago, AID made ite appearance
in North Carolina about 1888, SO that
here is a pest that is really new.
The Hessian fly is native Of
Europe, and appeared in this coun-
try during the latter part Of the
Revolutionary War, and has been
Espreading slowly over the country
ever since. Here, then, is another
pest which has not been with US
always.
The white cabbage butterfly is d