El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-21

~ ACRAMENTO. Calf. Oct. 21-The
ladybur crop is almost ripe. Ex-
pert bug hunters are now going
out from Sacramento and up into the
high Sierras to make preparations Tor
gathering it.
The business is one Of no small i'm
portance. inasmuch as the melon grow
ers of the Imperial valley practlcaI1y
depend upon the supply Of ladyDuss
for the successful production OF their
famous. cantaloupes. For this purpose,
To rrorect the melon vines, the insects
are used literally by the ton; 44eS
eat the aDhfds or plant lice Whlcn
otherwise would wholly destroy the
AboUf four tons of these 'ladybird
beetles" (as scientists call thenl WI
~ REQUIRED to meet the needs OF the
melon growers next summer. 10 BsL
them it is necessary 10 ascend 10 5Lee--
attitudes where, among Ialieh LseN e
and pine needles-cOmmonly on sunny
slopes along the banks OF streams tlle
bues spend the winter. BY NOYenDer
] they have begun to arrive IN the
mountains and TO assemble In colonies
on the stems and about the IOOIS "a
OW-grOWing plants
Hunting the Colonies.
1t is the business of the bug hunters
al this time merely TO locate sucn COL
onies, for later on they are covered
with snow, perhaps TO depth OF sew
eral feet 1t is WORK requiring mucL
experience. the important point DelnS
to know what are the likely places IN
which to look men a COl9ny IS
found. a little sketch map OF the i'm
mediate locality is made on a card,
which is subsequently, filed at Sacra-
mento, for later reference.
All Of this WOrI is being done Dy the
state insectary at Sacramento, under
the direction Of DR.. p. K. Carnes-the
bug wizard. who has accomplished such
marTels in California through the en-
plOyment OF friendly insects Tor the de-
etructiOu of bad ones. he II was VINO
ORIGINATED and developed the plan
whereby ladybird beetles are collected
and distributed for use by the melon
growers.
hunting business above described is but
a preliminary scouting, or reconnals-
sance-its object being to locate the
colonies, In order that they may be
collected later on. At this stage OF
the proceedings the beetles have only
BEGUN to assemble The few present
are no more than an advance guard OF
the armies that viii later arrive.
Real Work Is Done In Winter.
The real work is done in the win
ter. when. in December and January
the bug-hunters &c again INTO the
mountains and establishing a camp
as q center of operations, proceed TO
sects They are provided with plenty
Of thick clothing. heavy gloves and rub
Der boots, for they are necessarily eN-
posed to severest colo, and are obliged
to tramp long distances through deep
snow
When practicable mule is taken
along on expeditions from the camp,
to carry the bugs. Two men usually
work together. and with fairly good
luck they viii collect 100 pounds of
the beetles in a day The insects are
bulky, relatively TO their weight and
so a mule cannot very well carry more
than 80 pounds of them. More often,
however. they are carried by the bug
hunters themselves, slung in sacks over
their shoulders.
Such sacks. to contain the insects,
are made Of canvas, and in the mouth
Of each one a seive is fastened The
use of this is quickly seen when the
men get to work. For the beetles are
found in clustered masses, often as big
as ones two fists under the leaves
and pine needles on the ground. One
man scoops them up and throws them
into the seive, while the other mas