Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-07-07
NEW ORLEANS ANTS FAST MULTI.
PLYING AND REACHING OUT
INTO NEW FIELDS.
MENACE TO MANY CROPS,
SAY GOVERNMENT EXPERTS
Insect imported From Argentina Most
Destructive Of All Poets and Etomol.
osists Send Out Warnings 70 Farm.
ers and Fruit orows-s-known TO
Have Attacked Sleeping Infants.
Especial Correspondence


pest. no less destructive than the boil
weevil, the gypsy moth or the San
Jose scale is invading the United
States. The department of agriculture,
. thru the bureau of entomology, after
thorough study of the new source OF
; trouble for agriculture, has sounded
! the alarm in a lengthy bulletin Of re-
cent issue.
This pest is kind OF ant known as
the Argentine ant. According to the
experts OF the bureau Of entomology
who have been studying 1t, the Argeu-
tine ant. which first made its appear
ance in New Orleans some years ago,
is spreading rapidly. multiplying swift
~ and the future years will see it in
vading much new territory, including
much of the southern states and all Of
southern California. Indeed. there is
. danger that it will spread as far north
as Columbus, o. ST., Louis, Mo-, well
north along the Atlantic coast; thru
most of the southern states; and on
the Pacific coast up into Oregon and
Washington. Such a spread would
work havoc to cotton fields, to orange
groves. sugar cane fields and many
other crops.
Front Rank Among Insects.
According to the bureau Of entimol-
ogy the Argentine ant has already at
tanned front rank among injurious in
sects in the United States" 1t IL q
small sized ant. with an economical
importance entirely out Of proportion
to its appearance. 1t has various COM
mon names such as the tropical ant,
crazy ant, New Orleans ant and the
like. From New Orleans as a center.
1t is spreading in all directions and by
many methods. one Of them being car
ers on the 0Hssissippi
The official descriptions show there
Is no limit to the depredations OF this
new insect plague. Driven BY q vo-
racious appetite, 1t invades houses
groceries, stores. truck gardens. corn.
cane. cotton and other 6elds and may
be said to be almost omnipressnt In the
sections where 1t gets q foothold az
well as omniverous. It has q great
fondness for honey. sirups. candies,
cakes, cookies. Jams. marmalades. all
sorts Of foods including meats and
even corn meal and wheat dour. Il at
| lacks people in their sleep. overruns
babies in their cradles and there are
even reports Of infants having been
| killed by nyriads of these insects.
The department says that while re-
ports OF the killing Of infants By ants.
are unverified. such a thing II not out
| side the bounds Of possibility.
A Foe 20 Nurssrymen.
The ant here mentioned 10 q foe &c
| nurseries and ornamental plants
Among them, It fosters countless thou
sands Of scale insects and plant lice
because, being an epicure. It regards
these as the choicest Of foods and gro
tects them with the result they in
crease rapidly and hurt the plants cor
respondingly.
Honey bees, poultry. orange groves
and so on almost without limit are Oh
jectives Of this dangerous and dam.
aging invader. Beekeeping II broker
up where the insect gets 1odSment and
poultry raising Is badly crippled.
In addition to all such Tavagss. thu
Argentine ant is dangerous a. . breed
er Of disease. It often carries abou
disease breeding organfsms, such u
those from the sputum OF tubercula'
patients. Whether viewed from IN az
Yicultural, household, or Q sanitar!
standpoint, this new insect enemy 10
foe TO be watched and destroyed by al
means possible. The agricultural de
partment is giving It close attention
has evolved ways Of destroying 1t, ant
is not unlikely may go to congress TO
aid similar to that which has been oh
| fajned in the wars ON the hOlI uoevi
the gypsy moth and the San Jose scale