The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-08-10
APHIS GETS HARD
KNOCKS FROM FOES
County Agent Birch Says AphiS
An Enemy OF Clover
GOVERNMENT AND STATE EX-
PERTS AGREE WITH BIRCH.
County AgricuIturist Says Lady BUG
and Surplus Fly Are Going After
the Pest.

the rest
81 believe that the aphis is doing
considerable damage to the red clover
fields, and that in many cases it would
pay the farmers to cut their hay,
where the pest is bad, as they would
lave sure thing in the hay crop and
might miss on the seed crop" said
County Agriculturist w N. Birch,
when interviewed yesterday in regard
to the insect and the honeydew, but
on the other hand, while l hate to adj
wise, l believe that in some instances
il would be better for farmers where
the aphis is not very bad, to let the
clover go to seed. The aphis has two
enemies which in some fields are re-
ducing the damage which he is doing.
One of these is the lady bug, and the
other is the surplus fly, both of which
feed on the pest. On one square foot
of clover l counted twenty larvas of
the lady bug, and as they are hard to
locate, l suppose that there were sew
eral times that number. They and the
larvas of the surplus fly eat the aphis
in large numbers and l am sure that
by next year, they will have increased
enough in number to make a differ
ence.
There is one thing that l would
like to have impressed on the farmers
and that is the fact that where they
cut clover fields infested with grass
hoppers, they should spread the pre-
paration for poisoning them around
the edges of their alfalfa fields before
cutting the clover, or place it around
the edges of the clover field, so that
the hoppers will go after it instead of
going into the alfalfa. l know one
man who neglected Is precautiOn
and now he will haze 20 springle his
alfalfa field with some formula The
Paris green foi mula given by Mr..
Hays and published in THE TIMES
last week, certainly did the business
in his field, but in that case, the hay
had grown up and was not as attrac-
tive to the hoppers as younger feed
might have been, so in greener fields
it might not have proven quite as eff
fective, thought | will not say that it
" Ould not have done so. There is
practically no damage done to the
white clover or alsike by the aphis. |
George l. Reeves, entomologist of the
United States department of agricul-
ture, was here last week, and while he
regards the aphis as a pest, he says
that as yet the department has no
remedy to offer, but believes that by
studying its habits and learning where
it spends its winters. they will find a
remedy by next year"
Mr.. Birch said that in some cases it
was possible that seed increase
might actually take place as a result
of the activities of the aphis by caus-
ing seed to develop in plants that 9TH
erwise might not flower, but as a
whole, he believed it injurious.
Professor e. ]. Fjelsted of the uni
versity department, was inclined to !
agree with Mr.. Birch that the aphis
was as a whole undesirable. He said
that he knew of no scientific reason
for the supposition that the honey
dew would prove beneficial
j. A. Steele, of the Albert Dickinson
Seed company, said that he regarded |
the aphis as injurious and that he
thought that the seed crop would be
lighter in consequence of its activities. |
On the other hand, the greater acreage
on the tract would in a measure offset
its work. Alsike was lighter, in his
opinion, because of the small number
of humble bees that appeared to fer
tilize the plant 1T is Just as they
say in the east, mo cats no clover"
said Mr.. Steele, 'cats catch mice which
would otherwise rob the humble bee
nests and prevent them from fertiliz-
ing the clover. The alsike crop, how
ever, is not hurt by the aphis, nor is
the white clover"