Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-08-18

- an orchestra which shrills
out its prowess and flaunts
its coming achievement And in all the world
| there is no orchestra we'll paid. To be sure
1t gets little in the matter of attention, but in
ways more substantial it is rewarded hand
somely. For 1t is permitted to levy toll upon
the corn and the wheat the cabbage and the
apple, they grow. 1t is allowed to eat the
profits of the miller and the grain dealer. Ger
tain members of the shriing 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 lfes wretched
ones. And so nature in her memorable 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
! than our entire system of public school edu-
cation, from the kindergarten to the univer-
sity!
Moreover whole sections intended by ma
ture for the production of particular crops
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 busy in clover and grass
A-hatchin' out sorrer fer my garden sass
l. 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 has been accom-
plished by one 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 extermnate economic in.
sects,' as those which damage the growing
things called He is also head of the
state laboratory Of natural history and pro-
fessor Of entomology in the University of I'LL
nos. He has held these offices 25 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 1t prefers but what it likes next
best and what It will eat to escape starvation;
how the weather affects it's health, its temper,
and its power Of multiplying; is 1t subject to
contagious diseases? If so, how may it be
induced to catch one? Also 1t is we'll to know
how its neighbor bugs regard It. Whether the
sight Of 1t 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 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 it leaves-the mort
gage For more than generation scientists
in all parts Of the country directed their intel
lgence against its instinct; and instinct won
the victory. 1t seemed that reason could not
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
Cod"
And right there 1t seemed the problem
would have to rest. But an 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
l hour. Even so II was work that proceeded
| slowly. The chinch bug was 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
4 an end to chinch bug ravages. But farmers
| made the sad discovery. quite unintentionally
l you may be sure, not at all for the sake OF
/ enlightening the men of science, that the aban.
\ Comment of wheat may even increase the
L chinch devastation. For II they have become
l numerous and can find no wheat, they will
/ accept oats, barley, grass corn. The aban
l Comment Of wheat to be effective against the
chinch, must take place at the beginning Of
| an outbreak.
l Therefore Dr. Forbes Strengthened his NOR
/ tarboard, polished his microscope and prepared
| for wholesale slaughter. He was going II
wade deep. not in gore but in bug juice. The