Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-17
Their Ravages Aean,a Loss of Mill
ionsIsf Dollars.
lESTROYERS 0E CROPS AND LUMBER
Worst Part ofT.hese Depredators
Are Imported.
THE GOVERNMENT FIGHTERS
Copyright. 1901.)

While 1t Is true that the honey bee and
| the silk worm Of commerce are the basis
of great Industries, and while it Is true that
many insects, through their functions as
scavengers, as cross-fertilizers of plants,
and as parasites of destructive species, do
an enormous amount Of good In the econ
| omy of life, judging from the standpoint
| of human beings the actual loss brought
about by the work of other insects, mainly
| to the farmer, the fruit grower and the
stock raiser, goes far toward offsetting the
benefits derived from insects, If it does not,
| in fact, completely overbalance them. Many
estimates have been made of the losses pro-
| duced by insects in their destruction of
| certain crops These losses, when expressed
| in dollars and cents, are more or less mis-
| leading, because, for example. in a year
| when the chinch bug wipes out a corn crop
| or a wheat crop In restricted portions of
| the country the price of wheat or corn is
| sure to go up, which restores the money
value Of the crop as whole. Nevertheless,
| this Increased price bears upon the entire
| country and there is thus a distinct and
enormous economic loss through the work
| Of the insects. According to the calcula-
| lions Of conservative investigators the
amount of destruction caused by the jaws
| of the various species of insects, most of
which are so small that the average man
would hardly note their existence, is more
| than $500, 100000 a year. In other terms,
| IT, for three years, the destructive insects
would institute a fast the amount saved in
grain, fruit. cereals, timber. sundry crops
and domestic animals would pay the ma
! tional debt
A few years ago one farmer in the south
| lost $1,000 In single season through the
damage done to his extensive strawberry
| crop by the furnished plant bug. In 1880
| one farmer in Illinois lost $4,000 through
| the ravages of the army worm. In Mary
N he
orchard grower has lost a peach orchard
valued at $4,000 through the destructive
ness OF the San Jose scale The destructive
insect known as the ox-bOt or Ox-warble,
damages cattle around Lexington, KY, to
an amount estimated at $12500 annually.
| In 1895 the osier willow industry in a re-
stricted portion of the state Of New York
suffered a loss estimated at $4,000 from
damage done by the cottonwood leaf beetle
The Erie grape belt in Pennsylvania In 1895
suffered loss amounting to $4,000 from
the ravages Of the rose ehafer. In 1885 the
Hessian fly caused to two counties In the
state of. New York a loss amounting to
$1OO,O 900. In 1856 the cranberry crop in three
towns on Cape Cod suffered a loss of $780,
coo from the work, of the army worm, In
1886 and 1886 cut worms caused an amount
of damage to thei onion crop inc Orange
county, N. " estimated at $500, 900 each
T year. In 1874 the buffalo gnat killed stock
In one county in Tennessee valued at $780,
OO0 -. -
The loss to truck farmers in Maryland
from the work Of the melon plant louise is
estimated. at 100000 annually. In 1896
Massachusetts, sufferedfa loss to the grass
and grain crop from,y the army worm
amounting to 100000. Similar damage
was, done in Pennsyivania by the same In
sect in the same year to the amount OF
100000 In 1893 the loss to the pine for
ests in West Virginia and small portion
IO1v,v ,1r,ayS fvNy nrL
beetles amounted to 81 ,000,O 900. In 1893 the
loss suffered by the state of Alabama in
stored grain from the ravages of the In
significant little fly weeyil was closely es-
timated at 81 ST. S22. The annual loss in
Texas from this same insect amounts to
over 81 coo, 600. In 1890 the hop industry
in the states of Washington and Oregon is
said to have suffered a loss of $365,OO0 from
the work OF the hop plant louise. Now that
the state of Massachusetts has discon-
tinued its eXterminative work against the
gypsy moth, the committee which had the
work in charge estimates an annual loss to
that state of 81 900 900, after a few years
Increase The state of Illinois until quite
recently suffered an annual loss of $2,375,-
0OO or one half the value Of the average
apple crop, through the work Of the cod
ling moth Nebraska in 1892 suffered
loss Of $2,0OO,OOO in the same way. New
York is said to suffer an annual loss of 3d.
100000 from the same insect, Of which ST.
100000 Is in apples and 900 In pears.
state Of New York was damaged to the ex-
tent Of $15,OOO,0O0 by the wheat nudge.
Ohio in the same year lost SIS. OOO,O 900 from
the same cause, and Canada in 1857 from
the same insect lost $4,000, 900. In 1899 the
green pea louise in Maryland ate So, OOO, 900
worth OF green peas being raised for cam
ming factories and in 1900 increased It's ap
petite to $4000,0O0 worth. In 1880 the
chinch bug damaged the grain crops of
Illinois to the amount of 100000. In
1874 the same insect impoverished the
wheat growers of Missouri to the extent Of
$19 100000, but in the meantime Illinois
had sustained much larger loss in the
year 1884. when the chinch bug was esti-
mated by Walsh to have destroyed $73.OOO.-
600 worth of corn and wheat In Ohio,
where this insect has fourished for years,
Prof. Webster estimates that from 1850 to
1898 the farmers have lost through the
work Of this insect $3.50, OOO, GOO, or an aver
age annual loss from this single species Of
about u 100000. In the year 1900 the state
OF OHIO Is estimated to have lost $16.SOO.
OOO through damage to its wheat crop by
the Hessian fly.
The chinch bug, as just shown. which
Is SO small as to be hardly djscernible to
tive insects. The loss from It's ravages in
!Si equaled $30,OOD,O00, In 1874 upwards Of
100000 600; in 1887, $6O,OJO.UDO. The Rocky
mountain locust, or western grasshopper,
age OF recent years. produced a loss Of
actuaI crops IN Kansas, Missouri, NebraS-
ka and Iowa In 1874 amounting to $780,
600, but the indirect loss by stoppage
OF business and in other ways probably in
creased the loss to SOL, 300 900. For many
years the average annual loss to the cot
ton crop In our southern states from the
destruction caused by the cotton caterpillar
averaged SIS 1000, co., while in years Of great
abundance, like 1858 and 1873. the loss
reached 10000 600! The fly weevil, our
most destructive enemy to stored grains,
particularly throughout the south, causes
an annual loss to the whole country of
$4oV0OoO0. The codling1 moth, that de-
structive enemy to the apple and pear
crops, probably causes an annual loss to
the United States amounting to between
$SOOO0,OO0 and $40000000. The annual loss
to the whole country from the damage oc-
easioned by the oxIbotn amounts to not far
from $36,OOO.00O. This Is basel upon care
full estimate made by the Farmers Review
some years ago upon the annual loss from
animals In the Union stock yards at Chi
cago alone, which 6rnounted to 81. 673, 100.
Alarming Eigures.
b. D. Walsh. one of, the most careful.
conservative and ;welI5informed men Of
his time, In 1867 estimated the total an
nual loss in, the United States from the
work Of insects at from soc, coo, 600 to
1900. OOO. 900. Riley. the famous entomolo-
gtSt, In 1880 estimated N hQ SSO0 O0O mn