Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-11-10
LOSS FROM INSECT PESTS.
Annually Damage Soil Products
Mnny Millions OF Dollar.

Annually Damage Soil Products
MnRy MiIilons OF POLAR.
1t VIII PROBABLY staflie Ine average
American cltI1eii TO learn that every
year insect pesls damage our live stock
aud the agricultural products OF our
soil 10 an amount exceeding the en-
tire expenditures OF the national gov
ernmeht, including the pension roll and
the maintenance OF the army and navy.
insects impose 50 neayy tax on the
products or the farm as III the United
states. sclenJlnc Agricultural writer
(C. l.. MarlutL, ASSISTANT ellrolnologlst
iii the national bureau OF entomology
estimated Jew years ago thut a tolal
OF more than $luu,vVU,ooO annual loss
que 20 Insect pests III The United States
Is below rather than ABOVE the actual
damage.
Despite the careful and thorough
work done TO eradicate these pests
great damage is stlil innicteu by them.
before the cotton worm was studied
ana the method OF controlling it by the
use OF arsenic sprays had become com
mon knowledge this plague had levied
a tax Oh S3U,UUU,OUU III pad years on the
cotton crop. This estimate and those
that folio W are based on the Official
figures OF the department OF agricul-
ture for the calendar year 19O4-the
latest statistics available. Much saving
has been effected since then by the
methods of the bureau of entomology
and the State entomologists, but the
aggregate loss is still enormous. A
knowledge of the habits and the meth
DDS of controlling or avoiding the Hes
sian fly, including improved cultural
methods, has resulted In the saving Of
wheat values to the farmer aggregat-
ing from $1O0,O0O,0O0 to $20O,0OO,OO0
annually. The apple crop of the coun-
try Is worth from 100000 to $S,OOO,-
600 more since the as yet incomplete
control Of the coddling moth has been
generally understood. The root worm
was almost baffied by the principle Of
rotation of corn with oats, thus saving
the corn crop to the extent of many
millions annually. The annual losses
eccasioned to forests and forest prod
ucts by insect pests have been estimat-
ed at not less than $10O,OO00O0, Of
which S70OOO,000 is damage sustained
by the growing timber The tobacco
crop suffers from insects to the extent
of more than $5,000,000 The white
scale would have completely destroyed
the orange and lemon orchards Of Cali
fornia but for the Introduction of one
Of its natural enemies from Australia,
while the control of the Mexican boil
weevil has already saved the farmers
of Texas an enormous sum, and has
really made the continuance of cotton
growing possible.
Besides these direct losses enormous
damage is done by insects to cattle
and In the transmission of disease to
man. The loss in the value of horse,
sheep and csttle products directly
chargeable to insects 1.-THE OK MARBLE,
the Buffalo geat, a3d the various bit
ing flies and ticks) would aggregate,
government statisticians figure, not
less than SITE, 100000 annually. To this
must be added the cost Of protection
from insect damage to stores products
and from the noxious mosquito, fly
and other disease-bearing insects. I'm
doubtedly mosquitoes as carriers of
malaria and yellow fever, and flies as
transmitters of typhoid. occasion the
loss of another $5o.000.0o0 or S60,oo0<
600 in the form of lessened economic
productivity Review of Re
views.