The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-09-01

|
- an orchestra which shris
out its prowess and faunts
! its coming achievement And in all the world
there is no orchestra so well paid To be sure
1t gets little in the matter of attention, but in
ways more substantial it is rewarded hand
somely. For it is permitted to levy toll upon
| the 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
tain members of the shrilng tribe go farther
and 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-
bies into filth and sickness, they take wing
and they bear their death message into homes
/ fair and clean-homes where the inmates can
not concern themselves with life's wretched
ones. And so nature in her inexorable circle
| from 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 a dollars and cents
| basis which all of us understand what would
you say the insects OF this country cost us
each year? Millions of dollars! More in fact
4 than entire system of public school edu-
cation, from the kindergarten to the univer-
sity!
Moreover whole sections intended by ma
|
often are compelled to abandon them for no
other reason than insect infestation This is
especially true of horticulture. Myriad in
| deed are the insect foes that infest vegetables
and fruit. If ever the life of this underworld
is brought upon the stage as that Of the barn
yard has been, it may we'll open with this
plant Of the truck grower
| The insects are busy in clover and grass
| A-hatchin' out sorrer 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 man
| 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 las been accom-
plished by one man with a microscope His
name is Stephen A. Forbes and he is state
entomoogist 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-
lessor of entomology in the University of ILL
nois. He has held these offices 25 years,
which means that he has spent quarter of
| century fighting the predaceous instincts of
economic insects, barring occasional short
| lapse to fight the economical instincts of state
| legislatures. Naturally he is on intimate
terms with a vast number of bugs.
For practical knowledge of an insect, the
ability to recognize it in all It's phases is a
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 its health, its temper,
/ and it's 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 It, Whether the
sight Of 1t arouses the instinct to protect
the instinct to kill. For there 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 devil-devastator whose evil intentions are
| backed with energy and resourcefulness. When
| it starts to take what it wants from the farm
| there is just thing it leaves-the mort
| gage. For more than a generation scientists
in all parts of the country directed their intel
| ligence against it's instinct; and instinct won
| the victory 1t seemed that reason could not
| fathom the cause of the outbreaks 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 raison in it, it's just the will of
/ God"
And right there it seemed the problem
would have to rest. But occasional per-
sistent brain was unable to accept this solu
ton. Observations went not only week by
week but day by day, and often even hour by
! hour. Even SO it work that proceeded
slowly. The chinch bug hard to make
rules for. Indeed, it seemed more an excep-
| ton to rule than the French language. For
instance, scientists fattered 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 of
| enlightening the 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