The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-03-17
INSECTS THAT MAKE
MONEY FOR FARMER

of Europe. That is the story of IN
Boissiere silk venture of Silkville. near
Ottawa, kas., fifty years ago.
An insect benefactor OF the human
race. with which most Americans out
side Of the San Joaquin Valley OF Cali
or, to give 1t its scientific name. the
B~lastophaga grossorum, without which
the commercial production OF figs would
be Impossible.
A Peculiar Fruit.
The fig Is a peculiar fruit, consisting
simply of q receptacle for the flowers.
At the apex OF the receptacle is a small
orit1ce, giving passage from the exteri-
or to the very heart of the fruit. The
what are known as mule" blossoms, or
imperfect pistillate blossoms. and ma
ture the fruit without the Intervention
OF insect agency. although the seeds
are infertile. Sui the Smyrna fig, the
only variety Of particular merit for
drying, contains only pisttllate, or fe-
male blossoms; n unless these are
fertilized from some exterior source the
fruit falls off when the size of small
marbles. The Capri, or wild fig, contains
both staminate and pistillate blossoms.
and in this the fig wasp lives. moves
and has its being. This variety OF the
fig natures three or four crops of fruit
La a 4SW SAOP ~ VI NH
pearance just as the old reaches ma
turity, so that when the female wasp
energies from the fruit that Is fully
ripe, and ready to fall, 1t finds new f1gs
formed into which 1t crawls to lay its
eggs.
figs, form on the trees in June Tin the
San Joaquin Valley of California;, one
crop of the Capri fig is fully matured.
and the insects are just ready to
emerge to seek a place in which to de
post their eggs for the perpetuation of
their kind. The fig growers then take
the Capri figs from the trees. string
among the branches of the Smyrna trees
in their orchards. THE insects emerge
from the Capri figs, covered with poll
len from the staminate blossoms in tho
interior, Inc the immatumre fruit OF
the Smyrna figs. and enter them for the
polleninzing the blossoms so that the
fruit natures perfectly.
This process, known as c~aprtfcatton.
has been performed in the Orient by
fig growers for ages. The growers did
no in the least understand the reason
for it, but they knew from experience
that If they did not place the Capri figs
containing Insects in the trees of the
commercially valuable variety they OBJ
tained no fruit. 1t was commonly sup
posed then that the insect inflicted a
sting in the interior of the fruit that
stimulated its growth and caused 1t
to remain or the trees. In the expert
mental days Of commercial fig culture
in California advocates of the introduce
ton Of the fig wasp were ridiculed and
derided for their "superstitious' be-
lief in the gency of a bug" but the
absolute necessity of the fig wasp is
now universally admitted.
After nan failures the insect was
successfully introduced by the depart
ment of agriculture, in 1899, and 1000
tons Of dried figs are now produced an
nually in California, with the industry
yet in its infancy
In Its wild state, the vanilla bean of
Mexico. Central and South America 10
similarly fertilized by a small insect,
but the vanilla of m (grown
under c%ultivation) is produced by arti-
fetal fertilization of the blossoms by
hand. The vanilla plant is an orchid
and has the trait of requiring insect
fertilization in common with nearly all
species Of hat great botanical SUBJ
division.
These are only a few OF the insects
whose natural operations in one way
or another are advantageous to man
kind. They are the most conspicuous,
but there are hundreds, or more likely
thousands, of other species that con-
tribute to the comfort, convenience or
we'll being Of humanity.