The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-09
SOME TRAGEDIES
That Have Been. Enacted Through
Mistaken Philanthropy.
The Gypsy Moth, the Guatemala Ant
and the Australian Rabbits Three

The Gypsy Moth, the Guatemala Ant
and the Australian Rabbits Three
of the Worse.
Our calamities are often due more
to misguided. friends than. to open
foes. WI suffer more from the fools
than the frauds. "He means WELL"
says Dick Deadeye in the opera, "but
he don't know" Perhaps farmers
have suffered more from this forcibly
feeble element than any other class
of human beings, says the American
Farmer.
The experiments are usually tried
out on them. When in trouble the
quack comes along with one of those
remedies worse than the disease, they
yield and are ruined. A favorite form
of this mistaken philanthropy deals
with a cure for pests, especially those
Of the insect species, and as farmers
are the chief victims Of these, the
tragedies, herein to be recorded are
exclusively agricultural. Many years
ago a kind-hearted but soft-headed
experimentor conceived a plan Of rid
ding the grape growers Of Massachu-
sets of the philoxera which by an
nual visitations was running their
crops. To this end he imported a
supply of gypsy moths, whose favor
tie food was the identical insect that
was preying upon the vines of New
England. :
Apparently this moth was the most
harmless of creatures and only good
was expected of it as a p~est-destroy-
er., It was cultivated, turned loose
and soon had increased to, millions.
The trouble was, however, that the
gypsy moth declined to have his bill
of fare arranged for him in advance.
He objected also to q restricted diet
and demanded a. more varied, menu.
He insisted on eating other things
and in time developed into a far
greater pest than the one he was I'M
ported to exterminate. The State
fhas spent millionsSin trying to unload
this costly importation, but in vain.
They can't deport him like an unde-
sirable emigrant, they can't stop him
from breeking, nor can they check
his omniyorous appetite which Is
gratified at the expense of the fruit
growers and gardeners who have been
made victims of this conspicuous ex-
ample of mistaken philanthropy.
"A few years ago.. some genius
thought he had discovered a supreme
remedy for the boll-weevil which was
threatening the southern cotton crop
| with destruction. While !"nosing
around" in Guatemala he made the
tacquaintancer of a variety Of ants
which showed an especial ifondness
for boll-weevils as an article Of diet.
1t was not definitely ascertained that
| the weevil of Guatemala was the
same as that In the United States, or
that the nature of the cotton or other
conditions were similar. The genius,
however, like many others Of his kind
| jumped to conclusions, decided with
himself. that he had made a great dis
covery and induced the government
to import a lot Of the blessed ants
from Central America. When they ar
rived: on louisiana soil, like the
smart insects that they are, they
looked around and took note Of the
vegetable productions and the oppor-
ltunities in Hfe presented for poor but
ambitious insects ushered without
their concent among strangers in a
strange land.
They did not seem to have any es-
pecial enumity to the boll-weevil, and
the later indicated no fear Of these
pauper immigrants from the south.
The ants, after sizing up all things,
went to work with zeal on such food
| as lay before them, indicating an es-
pecial fondness for garden truck and
various valuable plants on the farms.
| With that community Of interest
which is said to prevail among bri-
gands, they left the cotton to the
boll-weevil as his special meal, while
they proceeded to show what a Guat-
emala ant could do in the way of
making a pest of himself. At last &C
counts, he was climbing trees and de-
| stroying the nests of singing birds to
such an extent that the people were
in fear that their favorite songsters
would be .exterminated by what was
promised as their benefactor.
Butthe worst tragedy Of all in the
line of mistaken .phnantrophy is re-
ported from Australia. About thirty
years ago u Of our sapheaded Kind
Hearts noticed that In the distribu-
ton of the wonderful fauna of that
island continent, the rabbit had been
omitted. He instantly decided that
Old Nature had made a mistake and
determined to import six as a starter.
They we're. the only things to nibble
the surplus grass, afford sport to the
natives and incidentally lend beauty
to the landscape with their elevated
ears and cottony tails.
The progeny of these six rabbits
have cost Au stralia more money
than she. has spent in running the
government, building railroads and
constructing all her internal improve
ments. Many times they have
brought the farmers and shepherd
ers to the bring of ruin by their de-
vastations. 1t was necessary to build
rabbit-tight fences around whole
provinces and emploY an army of