Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-03-11
The estimate, which is conservative
and under the rnark Ia aa folloWa:


Grasshopper .............. 9O,0OO,OOO
Hessian fly .............. 50,O00,0O0
Potato bug .............. 8,O00.0OO
San Jose scale ......... 10000. 900
Grain weevil ............. 1O,OOO,0cO
Apple worm ............. 1O,UO0,OU
Army worm .............. 15,OOO,OOO
Cabbage worm ........... 100000
Boil weevil (cotton) ...... 10000. 900
Boil worm (cotton) ....... 25,000, 900
Cotton worm ............. 15,OOO,OOO
Total.. l.................$5 ..$5oo,VVV,VU
How absurd it seems that this gov
ernment, with an army Of 1000 men,
254 warships and more money in its
treasury than any nation has ever be-
fore possessed, should be helpless In
fight against twelve Objectionable
bugs!
Yet such Is the fact. The individual
bug Is small, but its stronghold" is
it's tremendous power Of reproduction.
What Is to be done in conflict with an
adversary. which is capable Of having
billion descendants in summer. In
conflict with such an enemy Uncle Sam
finds himself in much the same situa-
ton as that of Gulliver when he dis
covered that he was at the mercy Of
the Liliputians.
The cinch bug Is disgusting little
beast, only a third Of an inch long.
Originally it fed upon wild grass. but
when civilized man arrived and planted
wheat the cereal suited its taste exact
ly and 1t soon became what it Is today,
the worst foe Of the most priced Of
bread-producing crops. 1t gets into the
funnel-shaped part Of the leaf, where 1t
joins the stalk. and sucks the sap until
the plant dies. The bugs, multiplying
at rate almost inconceivable, attack
wheat field in armies which literally
carpet the ground, and when the wheat
has been harvested they fly to the au-
tumnal corn.
Everybody knows the grasshopper,
which in the East is familiar, but
harmless, insect. In parts Of the West.
however, 1t is serious menace to ag-
riculture, and m bad veal" will cas-
lily do more than 500. 900 worth of
damage. It Is the true locust, celebrat-
ed In Biblical and other history, and
in the United States ranks as the worst
enemy Of man, barring only the cinch
bug. It Is a foe most dreaded by farm
ers over extensive areas. Droughts
they may combat by irrigation; from
tornadoes they may take refuge In
suitably constructed cellars, but before
the march of the devasting swarms Of
grasshoppers they are helpless. The
plague arrives and 10! as If by magic
the crops are swept from the face Of
the earth, all vegetation disappears ard
starvation stares them in the face.
In the year 1776 when the Hes
sian troops, engaged by the British
as auxiliaries, landed on Long Is
land, they brought lot Of straw
with them for their horses, and In 1t
almost undoubtedly were eggs Of the
insect which has since become known
in this country as the Hessian fly.
Three years later the pest began to
make itself troublesome In the neigh
borhood Of the landing place and since
then it has gradually spread westward.
Barring the cinch bug, it Is the worst
enemy of the wheat, making its first
appearance as a tiny maggot at the
base Of the young plant and sucking
the juices of the latter. Eventually the
plant Is weakened and destroyed, and
the maggot is transformed into frag-
lie dark-colored gnat, closely resem-
bling a small mosquito-the destined
parent Of maggots yet to be.
The army worm, which Is one Of the
most dreaded Of the insect foes Of the
farmer, Is naked-striped caterpillar,
an inch and a quarter long. In May
and June it makes its appearance In
immense numbers, devouring wheat,
oats and other grains and grasses. 1t
climbs up the seed stalks and cuts of
the heads. With a favorable succession
Of seasons it multiplies in geometrical
ratio, and at last becomes so numerous
as to necessitate migration In search or
food. Then the army worms travel and
feed during both day and night, IN
ficting enormous damage. 1t is from
their mode of marching in armies at
such times that their popular name Is
derived. The parent of the worm Is
brown moth.
The potato bug seems to have been
originally native to Colorado and New
Mexico. Various wild plants furnished
II with food, but nothing seems to have
been so exactly suited to- its require
ments as the potato. With the intro
duction of the potato by settlers came
the opportunity Of this Objectionable
insect to multiply ad infinitum. 1t be-
gan to march eastward and northward;
at first slowly, depending upon Its own
power Of flight, but later in great big
Jumps, assisted by the railroads, on
which it took passage. 1t made trips
of hundreds Of miles by river, floating
on chips or voyaging by boat. Its
spread was startling and at the pres
ent time its territory comprises nearly
all of the United States. All efforts to
diminish It's numbers have been In
vain, and $S,OOO,OOO is moderate esti-
mate Of the damage it does annually.
In 1868 a French naturalist named
Trouvalot, residing at Medford, near
Boston, was making experiments with
various kinds of silk-spinning insects
other than the common silk worm. He
had imported the eggs from France