The Washington herald., 1907-07-21
By DEXTER MARSHALL.

ftNtN'e a NAA nus NfAbG-lAhG ST. uCllt7s wi
or twelve feet square and eight G nine
feet high.
It's frame is made Of light wooden stun
and its walls Of close meshed wire netting.
through which the rain can beat. the wind
can blow, and the sunshine fan the same
as anywhere else. Inside you Eill see di-
vers jars and flower pots. some on shelves
close to the outside of the wae net cage.
some sunken in the grOund, and some
otherwise disposed. In the jars and pots
you will notice that plants and cuttings
Of various sorts are growing, and that
on each growing thing there is some evi-
dence that il is being attacked By de-
stTuctive insect.
II you hunt up some 4ttache OF the de-
partment and ask a few questions you
VIII learn that it is the chronological
Bureaus breeding cage" for the study
Of the insects which damage and destroy
deciduous fruits Of all sorts.
This inexpensive structure, then, which
cannot have cost more than $50 in the
building and which most visitors probably
would pass by unn0ticed, plays a highly
important part in the really great work
Of the best organized and most efficient
machine FOR fighting mans insect enemies
in the whole world. 1t is IN charge Of A.
j. Quaintauce one Of the bureau experts
The Bee House.
Near by you will see a little peak-roofed
ho1Ee with solid wooden walls. painted
white. Through little apertures in the
walls close to the ground bees are en-
tering and departing. You may enter it
yourself if you like and are not afraid
of bees, through an ordinary door. for
the little white building Is not full of
bees. as you might imagine. They are
kept in hives built inside the structure SO
that the outer wall of it forms one wall
Of each hive The bureau gives attention
to the insects which help mankind as
well as 10 those which damage crops.
Bees, Of course, stand az the head Of
beneficial insects; silkworms come next
Not far away stands the modest red
brick building which houses the main Of
fees Of the bureau IN charge of L. D.
Howard, entomologist with @. L. Marlatt
second in command Each of these men
does his fun share of original inVestiga-
ton in addition TO his supervisory work.
Mr.. Howard has given much attention 10
such pests as the brown tail and gypsy
moths for a long time. and is now in
Europe looking for ways 10 Kill them of.
Mr.. Marlatt has given special attention
TO the insect enemies Of wheatsand other
grains. which cost the country more than
any other group of insects. l speak of
them as ~ group because they attack
similar crops; scientifically, they belong
10 many different groups.
Green Bugs Work Dwarfed.
Only those who have looked on the fig
ures have any notion how expensive to
the nation the insects OF this country are.
Mr. Marlatt says that such pests impose
a heavier tax on the farmers of no other
country lie places the average yearly
loss at S7S51oo 900, an almost unthinkable
sum. or this loss, S42a0)0G10 falls upon
crops and farm forests, N75,010,00J upon
animal products, $l0jGNG0 upOn natural
forests and forest products. and $lo0.00O.O01
upon products in storage.
The loss 10 the cereals-wheat, oats
barley. rye and other gra:ns-ls about
$zt0.000000 annually, year in and year out
whether there is any special visitation
like that of the green bug, which made
such a sensation IN the Southwest this
year, or not. Ii is estimated that il did
about S9.OO00J0 damage last spring This
is bad enough. but il is a million dollars
less than per cent of the total average
sifrinkage Of the grain crops yearly
The corn root worm, the boil worm tor
ear woruD, the chinch bug, and the Hes
sian fly average Se0,050.0l0 damage each
q year right along in the corn crop alone.
more than double the damage done to the
wheat by the green bug this year Be
sides there are a lot Of minor pests
which damage corn that the public rarely
hears %, and of which many farmers are
ignorant such as bin bugs, wire worms,
cut worms, army worms. stalk boreTs.
gcasshoppers, corn plant liCe-ffty i'm
pOrtant species all told Mr. MarIatt saws.
that do a total yearly damage Of more
than $50 10)0C0 in all. or nearly nine times
as much as that done this year by the
green bug.
GFent Damage 10 Wheat.
Wheat suffers more from bugs and
worms Of various kinds, both actually
and relatively, than any other crop
Corn is the biggest crop Of the country,
It's value sometimes reaching and even
exceeding $l.G)0,G0000, with an average
S per cent insect loss. The average loss
from insects IN wheat is about % per
cent On crop worth SJ00O0OO0O this
would be Sl0O,Oo00l0 more than eleven
times the damage done this year by the
green bag. The Hessian fly and the
chinch bug are more partial to a wheat
than corn diet even. Sometimes the
HessiaR fly fairly exterminates a large
part of the growing wheat
Seven years ago it destroyed 40 per
cent of the wheat in Ohio and co per
cent in Indiana, the destruction being so
complete that these percentages Of the
area planted to these grains were plowed
under in the two States. Twenty per
cent of the Michigan wheat area was
abandoned also that year. and the de-
crease in the wheat crop of the whole
country for 1900 from the Hessian fly
alone amounted TO not less than $780,
000,000
It is rare that this fly does any such
great damage, however. 1t is a little
thing. although twice as large as the
green bug. being about an eighth Of an
inch long. 1t looks somewhat like an
undersized mosquito. As its name indi-
Gates, It is Of European origin and it
landed on American soil in f776 coming
here In the straw brought over by the
Hessian troops. It first did serious dam
age to American wheat three years later.
Spread to New Zealand.
It has been on the wing ever since. and
il reached New Zealand in 1855 It is at
tackled by several parasites, but about
the only thing to do when the fly once
gets we'll at work IN wheat is 10 plow
the crop under. After bad year. burns
ing he stEbble in the fan is recommend
ed n order to destroy the eggs and so