The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-03-14
FUNGI 10 KILL GoCUFs
American EntomuIosi Huay vgfth
9 New Method o. Com etins the
DcstructtTe Inseetas

Recent experiments wish new
mode Of fighting loeusfs hlHstrtes
principle oi nq ere
90 overcome 8npfneT Eads
ofB nsela work 81
plant liee ot anliaes Anoib
Of the same insect seiief e
be % t san aIe hle@
81 lnJaI rs to frHt
pillar has been sound in italy hieh
can be employed 10 suppress b1neb
scale which effects TIE olive and citrus
trees, and is thus of value in Calif oEnfa.
Then there IS the chinch-bug. which at
tacss young wheat and Wtiel Is there-
fore one OF the most formidable ane-
mies the farmer has to contend qfth.
70 deal with this 1t has been proposed
90 use a fungus belonging to the genus
Sporotrichum, reports the New York.
tribune. Partial success has attended
this venture but it is too soon to pro-
nounce a final verdict on its merit
Other fungi have been tried on a
disease which besets eetton and the
cowpea, but not with satisfactory re-
suits. An entirely different method is
now employed to get around the
trouble, so far as cotton.apd che cow
pea are involved Finally, the possi-
biiity Of antagonizing with a fungus
the. locust or gEasshopper, which some
years is terribly destructive in wheat
growing regions, is being invest igated
By Ameffean eHt omoloeists
~. *
one species of fungus belonging u
the genus l1mnusa destroyed 8usa
flies, mosquitoes nidgea and gnals
while another species would Kill euass-
hoppers and certain eaterpillars. Be-
tween 1896 and 1899 efforts were made
to utilize this facg aggres ssiyelF in
South Africa. Cultures of fungus
were made, these were prepared ia. Is
liquid form, several grasshoppe were
caught immersed in the fluid and Iiber-
ated where they would Join swarm.
and7n a day on two large numbers
were found dead. Itnow appears thar
two diferent genera were eHieetive ia
south Africa, the Enlpusae and certain
mucors. What proves to have been d
third genus, Sporotriehum was is
covered killing lQeUsts in the lgens.
tine Republic in 1907 altheua the
speeies which did the or lbs
salle that has been tried with tie
chinehbug. Altogether, then, there
seem 20 be at least three. different ya-
l,seties than can be. used in this way.
OIIGufes ntuv--las, DR.. +. o. Howard.
chief entomologist Of 7s,,s.,.f &, 80
of agriculture, in Washington, We4..
distributed in a number Of places in
the United States in 1901 and 1902 for
experimental use.
The user was to take a small sample,
mix it with sweetened water, and raise
a crop of his own. With the liquid.
thus. obtained he could smear a few
grasshopPers, and then release them,
or he could put it on damp ground
where the insects were liable to alight
and feed. He might also grind up a
lot of insects that had died in eonse-
quence, mix them with sugar and
water, and put this bait ON bread or
other food
The results thus far secured do not
Justify unbounded confidence, DIR.
Howard says, but he has not vet
finished his Investigations. Some Of
the samples sent out were not used, in
many places the weather was not
favorable, and there are other reasons
for feeling that a positive conclusion
cannot yet be reached. Thus far, how
ever, the cultures of Sporotriehum
seem to have been the most effective,
and greater success is apparently
realized in moist regions than in the
dry, arid country where the grasshop-
pers are most destructive. Perhaps
some new method of applying the
remedy may work better than those
| hitherto tried.
Just how the fungus operates can
not be definitely told. The bureau re-
fers to it officially as disease, per-
haps because of the close analogy be-
tween fungi and bacteria, which latter
are vegetable growths of an exceeding
~ low order.