The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-08-30
BATTLING AGAINST BUGS
Which the Bug Bureau Washington Waging Against
Insect Enemies More than 81 O00 0 Annually


moth have been subject to q rigorous
inspection. All roadside trees and
trees and foliage have been drenched
with deadly poison SO that no cater
pillars could live there and drop down
by means of their long silken threads
upon passing vehicles and be carried
into non-infected territory.
Moreover, great armies OF winged
mercenaries, thousands Of them. var
ious beetle and fly parasites OF the.
gypsy moth, have been imported from
Italy, France. Spain, Portugal Russia
and Japan, to fight for Uncle sam
against the invaders. These mercen-
aries multiply in numbers from TWEEN
ty to a hundred times every year
The campaign against the gypsy
moth has been simplified in one way
because the female moth cannot fly.
The equally destructive browntail
moth, however, later arrival In New
England, spreads much more rapidly,
for the female flies readily and is car
ried by the wind for long distances.
The war against the browntail has
been similar to that against the gypsy
moth.
The gypsy moth pest is due to the
fact that Professor Leopold Trouve-
lot, Of Harvard University had hob
by. He was professor Of astronomy,
but his hobby wa silkworms. He I'M
ported silkworms from all over the
world and at his home at Medford,
Mass, he tried by cross breeding to
produce harder insect than the silk
worm of commerce. Among the silk
| spinning caterpillars he imported
were some egg-clusters of the gypsy
moth, which he raised on shrub in
| his dooryard, enclosed in net One
night gale arose, ripped the net into
shreds and scattered the insects.
/ That was the costliest gale expert
enced in any section of the world,
though it blew down 40 trees, unroof-
ed no houses, caused no loss of life.
Professor Trouvelot rushed wildly
about the neighborhood capturing all
the insects he could find and Destroy
| ing them. He suspected that dyna.
mite had been set loose in Medford,
that day. He sounded warning, but
no more insects were found. 1t was
not until nearly twenty years later
that the people of Medford noticed
4 that their shade trees were appar-
emily stricken. They sent an alarm
to Washington and a corps of first-aid
/ scientists hurried to the scene to
discover the gypsy moth.
The invasion of the brown-tails was
not nearly so dramatic. They are
supposed to have come in upon rose
bushes imported in 1890 by florist
i in Somerville 1t was not until 1873
i however, that their destructive work
was noticed.
4 The biggest bug fighting campaign
ever waged, and one that is still go
ing on, is that against the cotton boil
weevil The boil weevil first appear
ed in the vicinity of Brownsville, Tex
in 1892. By 1902 it had caused dam
age to the Texas cotton crops esti
mated at fifty million dollars. In
{, spite of the vigorous warfare waged
i by the government the pest spread
over good part of the state and into
Louisiana 1t advances eastward al
, the rate of fifty miles a year and ey
cry foot of the way Is being bitterly
contested by Uncle Sans trained bug
fighters who have already found
means of circumventing the boil wee
{ vii by early planting although the,
have not been able to exterminate it
: These, of course, are the grea
) pests, but there is scarcely vegetable
or fruit, or grain grown in the United
E States that does not have score
: more or less destructive enemies
e which the chronological army is com
S PEELED to study and fight. The suga
Y beet, for instance, though its cula,ya
t tion in the United States is only in it
= infancy and 1t is not extensively sut
g ject to insect ravages, has about Is
/ known species of insects that feed ur
+ on 1t. The government has devote
s particular attention to the parasites G
Y the sugar beet because that humbl