The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1906-11-22
MIssouRrs INSECT ENEMIES.
She Spends More to Feed Them Than to
Educate her children.

Educate her children.
BY Walter Williams,
Every family in Missouri may hav'
an insect of its own, separate and dis
tinct and different from the iusec
owned by any other family, There ar,
9OO, 600 separate species OF insect In the
state that many different kinds. Many
OF the insects, Of course, are little
known and are of no economic conse
quence, as far as man is concerned
About $500 species are worth taking
account OF. OF this number 5000 arc
hurtful, 500 OF the number being de.
cidedly so, while $500 Of the total
number are beneficial either directly
or indirectly, generally indirectly by
the destruction of injurious insects.
Insects become injurious In Missouri
when they destroy or injure cultivated
or useful plants, stored food, books,
clothing, livestock, or carry diseases to
either man or domesticated animals.
Insects which simply annoy, as the bed.
bug and cockroach, are not counted.
Insects are beneficial when they destroy
injurious insects, noxious plants, decay.
Ing animals or vegetable matter, when
they pollinate plants, make soil, form
food or clothing for man, or can be
made use of in the arts, as shellac and
cochineal insects.
Nature maintains a balance which
man upsets when he attempts to culti-
vate and raise quantity OF certain
plants at the expense or exclusion of
others. Practically every kind of plant
has certain insects that naturally feed
upon it and tend to hold it in check,
and as man produces more Of certain
kind OF plant, nature produces insects 10
destroy it. In many instances the
withdrawal OF the natural food Of some
species of insects forces them to take
another, which may be a cultivated
plant. Such notable instance is seen
in the Colorado potato-beetle, which
until few years ago naturally fed up.
on wild plant in Colorado, but now
injuries the potato plant in Missouri
and all over the United States. Most
Missouri plants, whether cultivated or
uncultivated, have many different
species of insects that tend to destroy
them. For instance, In Missouri the
apple has lSl species, the clover plant
50, the beet 70, and SO on throughout
the list equally startling figures are TO
be found.
That injurious insects cause an enor-
nous damage in Missouri is we'll known
and many attempts have been made in
the last thirty years TO calculate as &C.
curateiy as possible this yearly or an
nual damage and to reduce it to money
value. Many factors and influences en-
ter into the estimate and react on one
another in such way as to render exact
figures difficult or impossible. II the
insects destroy one-half the number OF
barrels OF apples grown in Missouri this
year, is not the remaining half worth
about as much in money value to the
state as the whole would be? On the
other hand, IL the yield OF corn in Mis-
souri, is reduced this year one half by
insect damage, would not the money
value to the state be reduced also about
as much? From these two extremes are
all grades of variation In the per cent
OF money value as compared with the
per cent OF insect damage. A much
more accurate estimate therefore would
be to express the loss In bushels and
pounds and let each one estimate the
money value accordingly. In most
instances of insect damage 1t is the in.
dividual who suffers the loss and not the
state as q whole. A may lose his entire
crop OF apples through insect ravages,
while B In the next county, has a full
crop. Where A loses B therefore
gains to a certain extent in the enhan.
ced value OF bis crop, and the corsum-
er, that is the city and the town man,
pays the extra price, SO that the consum-
er at large really suffers as much, as a
rule, from insect ravages, as the pro-
ducer at large, although the consumer
in the city or town may not stop to con-
slider that he is paying an insect tax on
agricultural products.