Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-14
Plant Pests Cost
Country Billions


dlcrs, bootleg2ers and diamond snug
glers have odd schemes to fool Uncle
Sans sharp eyed men. But their
evil ways do not cost the tax payer
nearly so much as the plant pests
that slip into the country. The fig
urcs show that the tax payer is pay
ing a tribute to plant pests at the
rate OF about two billion dollars
year, the American Nature Associ-
alton says. therefore it Will be seen
just how important the Plant Police
mans job is.
Just as the Metropolitan police de-
partments tabulatc all the dope on
d law breaker. there is "rogue's
galley Of the plant world. The At
lantic States know what the chest
nut blight and the white pine blister
rust have done. The country knows
the South's experience with the boil
weevil. one of the original enemies
to be brought to this land from Eu-
rope was the Hcsshln Ely which came
in straw the soldiers used TO bed their
horses. That fly still costs the coun
try the price of the Revolutionary
War every year because of what il
does to wheat.
Introduced from Mexico. the boil
weevil has cost the cotton growers of
the South enough to pay off the
national debt. A one hundred million
acre corn crop is annually exposed to
n dozen destructive diseases, most of
which wormcd their way into Amer
lea from foreign fields. The last to
appear is the European corn borer.
Thus far science has made no head
way in eXterminating this pest. The
best it can do is to strive to limit the
area attacked.
The bootlegger's most approved
system Of marketing his wares can
not possibly cover the territory as
the gypsy moth has done. A profess
sor at Harvard University some years
ago was experimenting with all kinds
of silk worms and cultures of gypsy
moths. trying to develop a variety
of silk worms which would resist this
noXious disease. A gust of wind
blow several cultures through his
laboratory window. Shortly there
after. the gypsy moth became a de-
structive pest in Massachusetts and
row extends its depradations over
more than 10000 square miles of
American area. The American Ma
ture Association says this pest ac-
Complishes almost as much economic
damage as the annual fires which
constitute one Of the most serious
mcnaces with which VIC have to con-
tend.
The dope pcddler does nothing
more clever as the browntail moth
which came from Holland or France
in shipments of roses. The Japanese
beetle came to our shores on imported
Japanese Iris plants. The San Jose
scale has rendered fruit production
prohibitive in some parts of the
United States and costs more than
$l0,000,O00 a year.
All fruit, seed or plant products
that are found to be diseased are
either destroyed or else rendered
practically sterile by thorough fumi-
CATION. Along the Mexican border,
Uncle Sam maintains great fumiga-
tors large enough for several freight
cars to run inside at time In this
way all the cotton and cotton seed
that comes in from Mexico is rem
dered harmless so far as the distri-
button of Objectionable cotton dis
eases is concerned.
THE rosue's gallery" list of pests
now include more than 73 economic
ally important crop dcspoilers. the
Nature Association asserts.
Ihey include such crop criminals as
the cooling moth. asparagus beetle,
buffalo moth, hop plant louise, horn
ny, common cabbage worm, sugar
cane borcr, pear nudge, wheat louise,
oyster shell bark. louise, pea weevil,
croton bug, % Injurious scale insects
ana many others. Thirty seven of
these pests have been imported from
Europe. At such important ports of
entry as New York, Boston, Seattle
and San Francisco, plant pest police
men now examine all seed and plant
as well as other agricultural
products which might be infested
with foreign disease germ.