The age-herald., 1902-05-07
Washington Day 1Y Day

nance of fact in nature has perhaps never been more graphically demonstrat- ed than in recent discoveries regarding the San Jose scale and It's parasite. This romance was but dimly outlined in the press dispatches sent out day or two ago. It transpres that an expert in the department of agriculture has discovered a beetle called the lady-bug, which de- yours and lives upon the San Jose scale, that element of insect life which is the most destructive known to fruit growers the world over.
 The facts in this extraordinary case, or as one might say romance in nature, has been related by the secretary of agri- Wiley of Alabama. It appears that the department of agriculture was so over whelmed with inquiries as to remedies against the San Jose scale, that Secre- tary Wilson directed Dr. Marlette to proceed to the far east, and, If possible, discover some agency whereby the San Jose scale might be successfully com batted, it. being assumed by the learned men of the department of agriculture
 
 of things subjected to a parasite, that is to say, another organism of insect life which fed upon this scale.
 Secretary Wilson gave instructions to pr. Marlette to proceed first to Japan. Upon his arrival In Japan, Dr. Marlette discovered that native Japanese fruit trees and fruit trees from America trans planted In Japan. were alike infested with the San Jose scale. The learned doc tor was unable to ascertain whether the scale had been imported from America, or was indigenous to Japan. as it appeared both upon the native Japanese fruit trees and the fruit trees imported from Amer ica. With the abiding impression or con viction that nature must have provided parasite to consume the San Jose scale, Dr. Marlette determined to transfer his field of Investigation from Japan to China; arrived in China the doctor dis i covered conditions of the scale and it's destructiveness to fruit trees, native and 1 imported from America, to be identical with the conditions that he had observed in Japan; yet he found no parasite no enemy of the San Jose scale He spent several months in China travelling as far into the interior from the treaty ports as he might in safety, seeking the unknown insect paracitical to the San Jose scale: so far the doctor sought in vain. Still of the conviction that in the order of nature there must be an insect that would feed | upon the San Jose scale Dr. Marlette de- termined to make an extended and quite | T.
 dangerous tour of far northern China in hopes of finding out this parasitical in- sect
 Tn the north of China, thousand miles rom what we call civilization as mani iesteo In the treaty ports, Dr. Marlette round this most eagerly-sought parasite Of the insect world. He found it to he q rather small beetle, called in our lan- guage lady-bug. As Dr. Marlette jour- neyed northward in China he found mile alter mile that the fruit trees were less and less damaged. That revealed to him that some natural or artificial agency was at work to preserve the trees. He readily ascertained that no artificial methods w~re adopted or had been; then he Knew nature was doing the work. That established in his scientific mind conclus- i've evidence of the supposition formed in the minds of the experts in the Depart ment of Agriculture in Washington He knew at once that the San Jose scale was subject to a most destructive parasite. When he had reached an ancient fruit district some twelve hundred miles from the coast he discovered the lady-bug, the insect which feeds upon what we know in this country as the San Jose scale, so called because it's destructiveness was first observed upon the pear trees around San Jose, Cal.
 l pr. Marlette, in the far interior of northern China, secured sixty male and sixty female specimens of this lady-bug, and packing them as carefully as possible in community so far removed from civilization, he began his return journey to the coast. When he reached the near est seaport having communication with the United States all of his sixty pairs of ladybugs were still alive and apparently healthy. He boarded ship for the United States carefully placing his insect treas ure so nearly as possible that their nat ural condition might be preserved. And throughout that prolonged voyage of H. 900 miles Dr. Marlette looked after and as carefully nurtured and nursed those sixty pairs of lady-bugs as mother might look | after her children. But one by one they died, and it is not too much to say that every ending of insect life in this partic- ular brought grief to pr. Marlette He re- doubled his exertion as the number of lady-bugs decreased day by day His heart being set on preserving the lives of few of them until he could deliver | them In Washington; so over that vast | stretch of sea, that 11.0o0 miles of salt water, the scientist, devoted to his work | and duty, strove to save the lives of these insects. To him the saving of tho lady bugs became a duty as dear as the duty l of the lover to his beloved. To hs scien- I tifc mind the romance of the situation l appealed he saw in these little lady-bugs the redemption of the millions of fruit orchards of America from the immeasur- l ably destructive influences and effects of | the San Jose scale. He saw through the medium of these six score lady-bugs, the number with which he started, the blos-