The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-04-27

The chinch bug il said to be a native
| of America. as also in all probability
is the grasshopper, though this is not
| the right name for the insect popular
/ ly known by 1t. The so-caIled grass
hopper which travels in swarms is real
ly locust, differing little if any from
the species spoken of in Scripture. The
Hessian fly, third in destructiveness of
all the pests. is an importation which
has been traced directly to the Hessian
troops hired by the British in the war
OF the American Revolution, and it was
introduced in the straw brought to
America by those troops along with
their horses The army worm is of
American origin, as also is the potato
bug, native of Colorado and New Mex
leo, and the same can be said with a
reasonable degree of certainty about
the several insects which infiict such
tremendous losses on the growing cot
ton. However. cotton itself is sur
rounded with no little mystery. Cot
ton was grown in India and China
many centuries before the time of
Christ. 1t was found in both continents
of America by Columbus and other
Spanish explorers. but in small guam
titles and under circumstances which
indicated a comparatively recent inn
pcrtation. Still, to say that it was
recently imported from China or India |
would require a reorganization Of the |
popular idea with respect to pre- |
Columbus relations between the two !
hemispheres.
The San Jose scale was imported at !
a recent date from Australia. OF all |
the insects known in America the scale
has the greatest power of reproduction.
A single female is said to produce 3,001,-
100000 of it's kind in a single season. n
1t is easy. therefore, to understand II
how an orchard invaded by this pest
can be overrun as though by a prairie
fire in a part of one summer.
The weevil is another insect which we
can charge to foreign countries. 1t came
with our earliest settlements and is a
native of the Mediterranean region.
Such, too, is the history of the Gypsy
moth, save that it was of very recent
1t is related that a
French naturalist residing near Boston
imported in 1868 a lot of eggs of the
silk worm. Among them came
a few of the eggs of the Gypsy moth.
we'll known in Europe. He had these l
eggs setting on a windowsill when they
were scattered by a gust of wind, and
thus was started the pest which costs
more than $4,000 a r.
year. :
course, enumerate anywhere near all of
he injurious insects known in our
There are dozens and even
hundreds of others which, in the opin-
on of the agricultural department,
would swell the total of insect loss to :
more than $500. 900 600 annually. 1t J !
would be considered that if
he United States had thrust upon il :
Zach year a war of the magnitude of
'ur recent conflict with Spain, the early
'esult would be a bankrupt people and
bankrupt nation. Yet every year we
accept as a matter of course a loss far
greater than the cost Of the Spanish
var in the way of crops devoured by
Insects. From a moral standpoint. he
Who should invent or discover means
# preventing all human conflicts would
De entitled to the highest pinnacle of
he tower of fame. But from the fnan-
,ial or economic standpoint, he who !
should discover or invent a means of
the insect pests of the
United States of America would earn a
monument towering above the great
st shafts erected to Statesmen or
PATRIOTS. He would save to his people
total of breadstuffs almost equal to
he amount which they consume. He
would contribute annually $400, 900, 900
o the comfort and sustenance of his
elbow man-outpointing the widest
lreams Of charity or beneficence. And
possibly in the swift development of
scientific lore such an inventor or dis
.overer will yet be found Or. morel
still. the government will find
[ a method of economy to proceed in
wholesale fashion against these pests
With the means already known-Ex
--$%-