The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-08-26

l %@f>~f ton. Nor is 1t QOlSeleSS
>T@ underworld. Every evening
after hot sunset it forms
an orchestra which shrills
out it's prowess and faunts
It's coming achievement. And in all the world
here is no orchestra we'll. paid. To be sure
It 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
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
lpon the faces of little children Then from
places where poverty forces women and ba-
oies into filth and sickness, they take wing
and they bear their death message into homes
air and clean-homes where the inmates can
oot concern themselves with life's wretched
'nes And SO nature in her memorable circle
rom which neither the proudest nor the poor
.st 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 understand, what would
7ou say the insects of this country cost us
Zach year? Millions of dollars! More in fact
han our entire system of public school edu-
cation, from the kindergarten to the univer-
,ty!
Moreover whole sections intended by ma
lure 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
Iced, 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-hatch1n' out sorrer fer my garden sass.
They're happily humnin' this giddy
frain
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 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," 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 IS 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 a 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 it's power of multiplying; is it subject to
contagious diseases? If so, how may it be
induced to catch one? Also it is we'll to know
how its neighbor bugs regard it. 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 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 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 V1CCOry. II seemed CQdt reason could not
fathom the cause of the outbreaks nor find a
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-
sstent 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. it seemed more an excep-
ton to rule than the French language. For
instance. scientists flattered 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 Internationally,
you may be sure not at all for the sake of
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
chnch, must take place at the beginning of
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
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