The Nevada County picayune., 1923-02-22
JAPANESE BEETLE IS
 NEW MENACE TO SOUTH
Climate of Section Is Conducive to
 Its Spread.

l 'NN' .iiIN N''NllIS IlNl VI lpINiSll iiiStNt l pests and plant diseases which are l establishing themselves on this con ] tient the Japanese beetle is perhaps the latest to demonstrate it's ability to l thrive well under southern conditions. At the recent meetings of the cotton states entomologists held in Memphis this insect was the subject of consider able discussion It is now quite gen orally conceded that this foreign in- tader has come to stay and that it's establishment i'll the south is only a matter of time.
 The Japanese beetle first made it's appearance in New Jersey in 1916. II was probably introduced in it's grub or in it's pupal stage in soil which was used for packing for Japanese bulbs or nursery stock. In 1916 New Jersey inspectors succeeded in finding not more than dozen specimens of this insect while at the present time one person can collect from 15.000 to 10000 specimens day in the same territory When it was first discover cd it was probably limited to piece of territory not more than ne=half mile square. It could then have been eradicated though it might have been necessary to practically lay the in fested territory barren waste. It was by this method that the Germans eradicated our common potato beetle from their country when it first be- came established At the present time the insect covers an area of about TOO square miles.
 According to Drs Wilmon Newell and R w Harmed, heads of the Flori- da and Mississippi plant boards, re- spectively. who investigated this pest in New Jersey, the Japanese beetle gives promise of becoming a pest of the first magnitude in the south In Japan the pest thrives well in eli mate similar to our own and there seems to he no reason why it will not thrive under southern conditions. In general appearance the Japanese beetle suggests our common June bug. except that the former is only about half an inch long The beetle has shiny brown wings and a metallic green head and thorax. Unlike our June bug, it is a destructive feeder on the foliage of many plants. The beetle l is known to defolate practically all kinds of fruit. ornamental, shade and forest trees and is destructive to 1 fruits and vegetables. From its habit of feeding on sweet corn and other truck crops it has been carried on these products to Philadelphia and will doubtless spread to other com mercial centcrs in the same way, From these centers it will spread by being carried in various plant products as well as by attaching itself to moving automobiles. freight cars, etc. Quite aside from these artificial means of spread the insect will spread rapidly hv flight.
 The destructivenesS of the Japanese beetle does not cease with it's feed ing on fruits, vegetables, etc, for its larva or grub is q destructive feeder on the roots of many plants. In the few years that it has become estab- lished in New Jersey if has become so abundant that as many as l,3oo or it's. larvae or grubs have been found in square yard of sod. From eXperi- ments which have been conducted thus far in the matter of controlling this
 insect by calcium arsenate, Paris green and other arsenicals it appears
 that these insecticides cannot be de- pended upon to hold the insect under control. The beetle does not succumb
 readily to these insecticides and even if it did il would be exceedingly diff
 cult to control it in this way because
 every fence row, ditch bank and field
 which is not in cultivation would sup
 ply beetles in such enormous numbers
 and the task of poisoning them would
 be a big undertaking
 The biggest danger of the spread of
 this pest to Arkansas, Mlssissippi
 Tennessee and other southern states
 I,n thrnlnh chinmnnfS nf nIlrS-