The daily Gate City., 1914-03-15
BUG CENSUS
SHOWS LOSSES
Uncle Sam is Constantly Fighting
Harmful insects and
is Getting
Results.
BOIL WEEvIL IS WORST
Thousands of Dollars Damage Done
Each Year on the
Farm by
Bugs.

WASHINGTON, March 14.-Bugs!
Bugs that fly, that burrow, bugs that
bite and bugs that sting, big bugs and
tiny bugs. lady bugs. and bugs any.
thing but lady-like are going to cost
the federal government $S00,000 in
real moDvy during the fiscal year or
1915. That is the amount carried in
the agricultural bill now before con-
gress. DR.. L. o. Howard, chief OF the
bureau Of entomology, and Uncle
Sans champion bug hunter, has point
ed out, however that these insects will
cost the country fully 100 times that
amount in cotton destroyed; corn and
wheat and other grain crops injured;
forests devastated: root crops ruined
and fields laid almost bare. 1t is to
stop such ravages as these that the
bureau is maintained. That it saves
many times its cost every year is
easily demonstrated by statistics.
The biggest bug from the standpoint
of destructiveness is the boil weevil
which is slowly but certainly retreat
| ing before the desperate attacks of
government scientists. But the ssin-
ews of war" provided by the appropria-
tion bill are also wanted for cam
! paigns against the gypsy moth that
attacks tree foliage, the horn worm
that destroys tobacco plants, the cane
! insect that lays low cane fields, tho
alfalfa weevil that attacks that crop,
! the cinch bug that sucks the life from
wheat and corn stalks, the codling
moth that spoils tree fruits, the pine
beetle and the bark beetle The lat.
ter insect is a serious menace to the
national and private forests because it
destroys millions of feet of standing
timber M
The cotton red spider sfso has been
condemned as public e.lemy, and
! two new menaces that have slipped
! past the immigration authorities are
the Argentine antwhich ruins growing
tobacco and the Australian potato
i tuber moth. This latter pest lays its
eggs in young potatoes with the result
that when the farmer digs them he
! finds a large caterpillar inside each
4 tuber eating sixteen meals a day. And
i finally there is lot to be done in the
i way of reducing the number of house
q flies and stable flies which carry dis
eases more to be feared than crop fail
ures
We have undertaken an extensive
[ study of the house fly said Dr. How
ard on this point. In the small farm
and village SO per cent of the house
flies are bred in stable refuse and we
have been cooperating with the
, substance that will kill the fifty larve
, and not impair the fertilizing value OF
the refuse We have found recently
, that there are one or two such sub
stances which may be used at all
economical rate. think we are on the
8 which will be of great value in the
, way of reducing the house fly pest.
I'VE have several lines of work nov
going on in regard to the effect of in
sects upon the health of man and ami
: mails We wish In the first place, tt
!, the cattle ticks. Then, as to stable file:
: this insect has been shown to be in
> strumental in the carriage of infantilt
: paralysis. We also expect to under
= take a series of malarial fever stidie!
), and the Economies of malarial mos
auitos, in order to provide remedies
for the requirements of plantations. es
pecially in the Mississippi delta wher,
Q malaria is SO rife, the idea being Il
d find out what species of mosquito car
ry malaria in those districts, exactl.
y how they breed. what can be done il
/ the way of protecting people from
q their bites and what can be done t
y destroy the mosquitoes in their breed
ing places. The alfalfa weeyil is
s serious problem in Utah and ha
e spread to Wyoming and other neigl
II boring states. As is always done !
e case of this kind the bureau Of Ell
tomology has secured the world TO
e parasites to attack the new enem.
g Two such have been imported. on
A. from Italy and another from souther
1e France. The alfalfa weeyil fortunate
n ~ cannot fly but it gets into frei2f
ii cars along the track. into bales OF ha
n for shipment and seems to know !
IN instinct how to secure free transports
b. ton,
The boil weevil, which is capable I
extended flights, is much more q
+ .