The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-09-01

NG after a hot sunset it forms
1sA an orchestra which shrs
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
sonely. For it is permitted to levy toll upon
the corn and the wheat, the cabbage and the
apple, as they grow. It is allowed to eat the
profits of the miller and the grain dealer Ger
tain members of the shrilling 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
tGir and Clean-homes where the inmates can
not concern themselves with lifes wretcbeJ
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
Bun reducing it to a dollars and cents
basis which all of US understand, what would
yCu 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 uniyer.
sity,
Moreover whole sections intended BY ma
ture for the production Of particular crops
often are compelled to abandon them for no
ether reason than insect infestation. This is
especially true of horticulture MYRIAD in
decd, are the insect foes that infest vegetables
ard fruit. If ever the life of this underworld
Is brought upon the stage that of the barn
yaf@ has been, it may we'll open with this
pau' Of the truck grower:
The insects are busy in clover and grass.
.-hatrhin' out sorrer fer my garden sass
They're happily hummin' this giddy re-
frain
The old mule Will still be your airy-o-
plane.
Now the farmer has found himself help
les 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
da} Of prosperity and rushes to consult when
the world is awry.
Let me tell you Of what has been accom-
pNsh2d by one man with a microscope His
name is stephen A Forbes and he is state
en- omoiogist of Illinois His chief work In
this position is to exterminate Economic in
se@ts, as those which damage the growing
things are called He is also head of the
state laboratory of natural history and pro
1e-4or of entomology in the University of Hi
n He has held these offices 25 years,
which means that he has spent a 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
ter.,e with a vast number of bugs.
For a practical knowledge of an insect the
ability to recognize 1t 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 1t will eat to escape starvation;
b0y h6r IFS ito
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 its 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 it leaves-the mort
gage. For more than a generation scientists
in all parts of the country directed their intel
ligence against its instinct: and instinct won
the victory IL seemed tnat reason could not
fathom the cause Of the outbreaks nor find
way to prevent them. In despair tho men Of
science were for saying did the old Irish
woman of the rain that spoiled her potatoes
"Theres raison in it, it's just the vii! Of
God"
And right there It seemed the problem
would have to rest But an occasional per
sistcnt 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 II was work that proceeded
slowly. The Chinch bug 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 unintentionaIly
you may be sure not at all for the sake of
enghtening the men of science, that the aban-
donment of wheat may even increase the
chinch devastation. For II 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
chnch, 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