The Glenwood post., 1907-09-28

seven world tours made by Compere
was the finding of the parasite, or nat
ural insect enemy, of the fruit fly; yet
Compere did not forget the interests of
his own state while making these tours;
among the beneficial insects calculated
to combat the fruit pests of California
obtained by him during these travels
was the parasite for the codling moth,
which he found on the western coast of
Spain, and one for the purple scale, dis
covered in the interior of China.
Compere's methods are peculiar to
these insect expeditions, he sewers all
social ties and remains in communica-
tion only with the horticultural officials
of the two countries employing him.
He goes alone and unattended, and en-
cages no helpers until he arrives in
field of immediate research; then he
may hire a guide, and perhaps and in
tcrpreter.
| During his long sea voyages he is
immersed in his collection of books on
entomology, and studies them carefully
in their bearing upon his peculiar line
of investigation. But no sooner is 1t
for a few hours stop at some lonely is
land in the middle of the Pacific ocean,
than Compere seiZes his paraphernalia
and hastens ashore to hunt insects until
| IL. ,Ln
His outfit on one of these expeditions
is simplicity itself. 1t consists of n
large sheet of white cotton cloth, a
stick, an insect case and a microscope.
As soon as he espies n tree or shrub
that he thinks may be inhabited by
some important member of the insect
family, he proceeds to spread his sheet
underneath its boughs, and when that
is done he begins to beat the branches
with his stick. When he has dislodged
great number of insects he falls upon
his knees, with the microscope to his
eve and makes careful scrutiny Of
the sheet Should he discover any in
teresting individual he proceeds to cap
ture it and consign it to his insect case.
And thus Compcre goes about the
world hunting every nook and corner;
plunging into Jungle, morass, or tropi
cal forest in his tircles search for more
insects. regardless of personal danger.
Once while travelling in India he found
himself in a plague infected district,
and lost five guides in succession from
the disease before he had completed his
search Then he was detained in quar-
antne on the frontier, and when he was
about to leave, the local officials took
it upon themselves to fumigate his bag
gage. Among his baggage was his case
of insects. ana every one of the crea-
lures was killed by the noxious fumes.
Then all the labor Compere had been to-
all the dangers he had hraved upon his
expedition, came to naught. But the
next season saw him on the ground
again. and this time he was more sue
cessful.
One may ask why it becomes neces
sary to search in foreign lands for these
beneficial insects, and why they may
not be found within the borders of the
state of California in conjunction with
the injurious insects. This is quite
readily explained: California is a new
state and her fruit industry is of ocm
paratively recent origin and of very
rapid development. Neither the injur
ious nor the beneficial insect was in
the state originally. The first came in
through negligence and lack of fore
sight; the second can be brought in
only by great labor and research. The
early fruit growers We're more inhu-
enced by enthusiasm for the introduc-
tion of new and rare fruits than by
wise caution in not importing at the
same time about all the fruit trees in
the known world. The pests came in
through infested trees, shrubs, green
and dried fruits, etc, because in. the
early days no one thought of horticul-
tural inspection and quarantine such as
California has since established; but
the parasites did not come in with
them; so the pests gained foothod,
multiplied by the million, and have
been productive of infinite evil.
Again, it may be asked why it is so
difficult TO obtain these parasites even
in foreign lands, which are apparently
their natural home. This question is
also easily nnsweicl: In lands where
pest and parasite exist in conjunction
there is eternal war between the twp
species; one Is on the offensive, th
o.hcr on the defensive, with the para
site always in the ascendency.
The pest gradually disappears un
der the constant attacks of the para