Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-18

INA p spondenee Of The Bee)-Come with me
Il wv to the Agricultural department and see
how Uncle Sam is waging the
HC(YET5A flies, bugs and bacteria which in
kSs.Z1GY juring the farmer. He is finding them
by the millions and he has of scientists who
rearing them studying their habits and practcing
how to destroy them. l went today through num-
Der OF Laboratories where these little beings cul-
tivated. Some small that billion can
be crowded into thimble, and they breed rapidly
that single family will produce more than sixteen
hundred million children and grandchildren in
season. many generations being crowded into that
time
Take for instance the San Jose scale. which has
cost fruit growers something like $2O0,0OO,0O0
and for which they spending millions fight
/ looked 1t through the microscope in the pomo-
logical bureau today The one examined among
those peach limb which covered it closely
almost the pores of your skin Each scale is a
waxylike body rot as big as the head of a pin and
the insect itself lies under this using 1t shield
while It sucks the lifeblood of the tree.
The little being is male and female and the sexes
married and have children not unlike human
beings The single female. however. will have 400
young in season, and the young reach maturity so
quickly that little wife may produce 400 babies
a year, while the offspring of parent during a
single has been estimated at than sixteen
hundred million females When IT is remembered
that there colonies of this insect scattered through
out every orchard region of the United States from
from Los Angeles to Delaware you may appreciate
what Job It is to control them.
Chinese Invasion
Talk about the Yellow Perill This little animal
came from across the Pacific 1t brought in on
some peach stock imported from China and ruin
ing the orchards OF southern California when one
of the farmers of that region gave his wash
of sheep dip. The dip composed of lime, salt
and sulphur solution which had come from Australia
He surprised to find that this liquid wiped the
scale The fact reported to the Agricultural de-
partment. and then, a result of its experiments.
began the wholesale spraying which goes on all
over the country. Every winter spring the com
mereial orchards of the United States sprayed
with this mixture. The concentrated spray is too
strong after the leaves have out, but it
does not njure the trees while vegetation is dormant
and If applied every bit of the bark above ground
it wipes out the scale.
Moreover, the San Jose scale has no wings to fly
from tree to tree although the young climb about
from their little homes the branches and can
carried the feet of birds to the trees of
the orchard to other orchards. which may many
miles Off 1t may also be blown by the wind short
distance.
The insect has so spread that there is scarcely a
locality in the United States which is free from it,
and the only salvation an orchard is regular spray
ing from year to year The scientists tell me the
spraying should begin the trees are planted
for the scale may exist the nursery stock, and a
single family which may start with a space as big
as the finger nail of baby will populate not
only your orchard but also those of your neghbors
The insects live the of the forests so that the
only safe method is Wholesale slaughter each year
Other Parasites
spent some time with Prof Waite, who is now
studying the prevention OF the which develops
oranges, apples peaches and other fruits on their
way to the markets He took into his laboratories
where number OF merOseopists and other scientists
working, and where there long tables filled
with glass jars. These covered to prevent
the invasion OF bacteria and they contained oranges
which had been noculated with fungus and given the
right conditions for its development. large
number Of glass tubes. the mouths of which were
plugged with cotton. Each tube contained a species
of fungus which. by the OF the forms
OF vegetable life.
Fungus Is sort OF plant which feeds other
plants II is plant cannibal or parasite. it
II is so small that you have TO have microscope to
examine It, but il develops rapidly that IL soon
eats up and destroys any fruit to which attaches
itself l shown a glass cage, something like q
telephone booth, which made by MT Waite that
IL might be bacteria proof This Is in order that
men may work safely within Il and that the fungus