The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-16
Pest Confined
to a Few
Counties IN
Central Part
Of State, But Is
Spreading SO
Rapidly That
It May Sweep
Entire Country
# Not Checked
at Once

War 10 the end, bitter, merciless war
that knows no quarter, war OF exter-
mination has already begun III gtah
against the phyionomus murlnus. Pny
tonomus murlnus is the stage hauie ioi
alfalfa leaf weevil,
There has been little guerrilla war
fare. but not enough to worry the
murinuses one bit. However, the real
battles are at hand The vanguard OF
invasion has arrived. Hosts of enemies
commanded by the greatest entomology
cal generals of the country are begin
ming to come in. They will swoop down
upon the alfalfa weevil and endcavor
with all possible speed to extermlnate
the weevil and all of his relations.
This warfare is to be relentless and no
mercy will be shown. Every trick OF
war will be used The food supply Will
be poisoned The wccvil are to be drlv-
en- from their homes and killed or made
cantive after which they are speedily
put to death. Worse than that, the army
Of determination Will ruthlessly enter
the homes and make of the very hearth
stone of the home the cradle of sedl-
tion. as the statesmen would say.
Powerful among the allied forces
working against the militant weevll are
thousands and millions of hired Hes
sians if HessIans can come from Italy,
in the form of parasites, which so invest
the home of the weevil that the growth
of the weevil is stopped and thousands
of voraclous but defenseless baby wee"
wills arc slaughtered TO make food for
the imported parasites and their chill
dren.
Baby weevil Is Marked
And that is not all The baby weevIls
who survive the attacks upon them IN
their infancy will meet another foe III
their youth. Before they have attained
their wings and their maturity, while
they are still little green worms, with
sn Unsuitable appetite for shredded al
falfa leaf for breakfast, lunch and dim
ner, they will be again attacked. The
worm will be the nesting place for an
other parasitlcal enemy and the active
progeny Of the latest reinforcement of
the enemy will feed gayly on the embon.
point of the weevil youngsters, much to
the discomfort of the latter.
Directing the forces of the hordes of
the larvae-thirsting enemy viii be a
board of strategy composed of some of
the world. With test tube and micro
scope these engineers will direct the at
tack ON the weeyil and they Will be re.
lentless as fate until the alfalfa weevil
are finally eXterminated or so greatly
dlmipished that they Will hereafter ex
lst Oni' Dy the suffrage OF The farmer
who has already formed an allegiance
with the scientists and the parasite
Before wasting any sympathy on the
alfalfa leaf weevil-beg pardon. tn,
phytOnomus murinus-it must be re
mcmbered that the p. m. is the las
word when it comes to relentless in
vading- For a good many centuries. il
appears the phytonomus murinus ha
been the synonym for monotonou
existence in Europe He ha
eaten leaf or two of al
falfa, lodged the parasite and til,
farmer. reared Il moderate sized famil,
and died. He had no ambition to striJ
an alfalfa field. being content with
very modest portion, leaving the Euro
pean farmer so much that he did no
miss the little taken to sustain tn
murinns family.
Scion Becomes Ambitious.
But this was not to continue forever
Some eight or ten years ago a scion o
the murinus family became ambitious
He was not content to live as the mu
rinus family had lived for counties
generations. He wanted 10 get out o
the rut. With the spirit Of adventur