Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-08-25
BUGS CosTMANY MILLIONS
Ruin 0ne-Seventh OF the Five Bill
lion Crop of This Country Annu

Ruin One-Seyenth OF the Five Bill
lion Crop of This Country Annu
ally.
Bugs levy tribute of about $735,
100000 annually upon the people OF
the United States They cost tn,
people about as much as the National
Government does.
The estimates are made by officers
of the Agricultural Department and
published in the year book Just is.
sued. To make the statement more
specific, it is estimated that insect
pests damage cereals 10 The extent of
$500, ,OOO, 900 d year; uoltun, S50,0OO,-
600; truck crops, $53, 900, 900; fruits,
S27, 200, 600; miscellaneous crops, 3d.
100000; products IN storage, $780,
100000; forest and forest products,
$1l2,000,000; animal products and
animals, $4,000, 600; not to speak
OF the damage to tobacco and sugar
crops.
From the American farmer the
bug aristocracy takes one-seventh of
all be earns. His annual crop is esti-
mated at the aggregate value of about
So, ,000,0OO,0OO.
The most expensive bug guest, ac.
cording to Agricultural Department
experts, is the chintz bug, which
costs $60,000,U00 for years enter
tainment- The grasshopper comes
next, with an account aggregatiDg
$50, 100000. The hessian regales
himself upon $40, 200 of the fat
of the land, while the boil weevil
and bis relatives, the boil worm ard
the leaf worm, get away with $780,
100000 more. Then comes quite a
procession of the bug aristocracy,
including the corn root worm, the
corn ear worm, the cUddling moth,
the potato bug, the grain weevil, the
army worm and the San Jose scale,
with expensive families, costing from
$5,0O0,000 to $2O,0O0,00O for sup
port each year.
Each one of these guests has his
favorite dish. You could not hire
the chintz bug to eat potatoes, nor
the potato bug to take wheat diet.
Each has his own brand of epicurean
palate. There is one bug which has
become cigarette fend, and is play
ing havoc in the tobacco fields. The
codding moth has a weakness for ap.
pies before they reach the hard-clder
stage. But the San Jose scale is
more catholic 10 his tastes. He will
go after anything from a prune to a
cherry.
The grasshopper is a gormandizer,
aud will eat anything green when
the fit is on him. He has the good
quality of making himself scarce at
intervals, so as to give the farmer an
opportunity to get over the shock.
There has not been q general raid by
this robber baron since the late seven
ties, when he devastated the whole
West, but he is busy year after year
In modest way, parasite like, eating
up the profit of the farmer.
There is "pesky little critter"
called the warble, so named, un-
doubtediy because he does not resem-
BILE the song of a bn1, %hich bores
into the hides of cattle and makcs
the daylight shine through. 1t makes
the hide less valuable as a shoe in
the rough, and also damages the
meat. These mean little spongers
live and work in conjunction with
great horde of ticks and other pests
which worry the life out of live stock.
Between the aristoracy of bugdom
and the trust aristocracy which
grind the agriculturist as the upper
and the neither millstones, he has
terrible time getting any profit out
of his undertakings. Secretary Will
sons bright young men are trying to
overthrow the bug oligarchy, while
President Roosevelt has sworn ven-
geance on their brother of the trusts.
When the Secretary and the Presi-
dent succeed in their undertakings the
country will be sort of paradise for
the industrious agrculturalist and
others.