River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-08-18

ELISf$OI ton. Nor is it a noiseless
~ underworld Every evening
VII after a hot sunset 1t forms
- an orchestra which shrills
out it's prowess and f1aunts
It's coming achievement. And in all the world
there is no orchestra so well paid. To be
t gets little in the matter of attention, but in
ways more substantial it is rewarded hand
Bomely. For it Is permitted to levy toll upon
he corn and the wheat, the cabbage and the
apple, as they grow. 1t is allowed to eat the
profits of the miller and the grain dealer. Ger
ain members of the shrilling tribe go farther
IND demand greater concessions In their greed
Not satisfied with money tribute, they exact
human lives. Their gruesome tracks are made
upon the faces of little children. Then from
places where poverty forces women and ba-
5ies into filth and sickness they take wing
md they bear their death message into homes
air and clean-homes where the inmates can
1ot concern themselves with lfes wretched
ones And SO nature in her memorable circle
rom which neither the proudest nor the poor
Est can escape, herself supplies the link which
brings the miserable home to the fair one.
But reducing it TO- dollars and cents
basis which all of us understand, what would
1ou say the insects of this country cost us
Zach year? Millions of dollars! More in fact
han our entire system of public school edu-
:aton, from the kindergarten to the unver-
nty!
Moreover whole sections intended by ma
ure for the production of particular crops
often compelled to abandon them for no
other reason than insect infestation This is
especially true of horticulture. Myriad in
Iced, are the insect foes that infest vegetables
and fruit Ii ever the life of this underworld
Is brought upon the stage as that of the barn
yard has BEEN it may well open with this
plant Of the truck grower:
The insects are busy in clover and grass
A-hatchin out fer my garden sass,
They're happily hummin this giddy
The old mule will still be your airy-o-
plane.
Now the farmer has found himself help
less before this foe which must be fought
with microscopes and laboratory mysteries.
Consequently he has appealed to the
of science whom everyone despises in the
day of prosperity and rushes to consult when
the world is awry.
Let me tell you of what has been accom-
plished by man with a microscope. His
name Is Stephen A. Forbes and he is state
entomologist Of Illinois. His chief work in
this position is to exterminate economic in
sects," as those which damage the growing
things are called He is also head of the
state laboratory of natural history and pro-
fessor of entomology in the University of ILL
nois. He has held these offices rs years,
which means that he has spent quarter of
a century fighting the predaceous instincts of
economic insects, barring an occasional short
lapse to fight the economical instincts of state
legislatures. Naturally he is on intimate
terms with vast number of bugs.
For practical knowledge of an insect the
ability to recognize it in all its phases is
mere beginning. It's dietary must be known,
not only what it prefers but what it likes next
best and what it will eat to escape starvation;
how the weather affects it's health, it's temper,
and its power of multiplying; is it subject to
contagious diseases? If so, how may it be
induced to catch one? Also it is well to know
how it's neighbor bugs regard 1t. Whether the
sight OF it arouses the instinct to protect or
the instinct to kill. For there are bugs so
kindly disposed toward other bugs that they
will carry them to their food supply, hatch
their eggs for them, and bring up their off
spring. The sole duties they leave to those
they protect are breathing, eating and multi
plying.
First let me tell you about the fight against
the chinch bug. AS everyone knows, the chinch
is a devil-devastator whose evil intentions are
backed with energy and resourcefulness. When
it starts to take what 1t wants from the farm
there is just one thing 1t leaves-the mort
gage. For more than generation scientists
in all parts of the country directed their intel
ngence against its instinct; and instinct won
Iu0 VlCIOIy. II S0SuSQ IudI ISdSOu COulu uOI
fathom the cause of the outbreaks nor find
way to prevent them. In despair the men OF
science were for saying as did the old Irish
woman of the rain that spoiled her potatoes,
There's no raison in it. it's just the will of
God!"
And right there it seemed the problem
would have to rest. But an occasional per-
sistent brain was unable to accept this solu-
ton Observations went on not only week by
week but day by day, and often even hour by
hour Even so it was work that proceeded
slowly. The chinch bug was hard to make
rules for. Indeed 1t seemed more an excep-
ton to rule than the French language. For
instance. scientists hattered themselves that
one thing was proved concerning his chinchship
viz, the abandonment of wheat culture meant
an end to chinch bug ravages. But farmers
made the sad discovery, quite unintentionally.
you may be sure, not at all for the sake or
enlightening the men of science, that the aban-
donment of wheat may even increase the
chinch devastation. For If they have become
numerous and can find no wheat, they will
accept oats, barley, grass or corn. The aban-
donment of wheat to be effective against the
chinch must take place at the beginning of
an outbreak.
Therefore DR.. Forbes Strengthened his NOR
tarboard, polished his microscope and prepared
for wholesale slaughter. He was going to
wade deep, not in gore but in bug juice. The