Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21

the ordinary house fly, but differing
greatly In the color pattern Of the body
and wings, and in It's habits. The
gltstening black spots upon the In
sects back, the two white bands on the
yellowish abdomen, and the yellow and
black markings Of the wings ct once
distinguish 1t from other insects"
Punctures Hard TO Detect.
It Is the female fly that does the
damage. She Is able to puncture ripe
fruits and vegetables, berries, ETC., max
thus receptacle for her eggs. The
punctlres are 50 small 1t Is difncult to
detect them. All the females Of the
tribe are free to use punctures wherever
found. laying hundreds of eggs in Q SIN
gle opening. No creature Is more pro-
life than the Mediterranean fruit fy.
The eggs hatch, larvae or maggots
tunnel in all directions through the
fruit, running 1t completely, then drop
to the ground as pupae. These burrow
into the ground, from which shortly
energies the full-grown fly. The whole
process consumes only few days.
The fly does not live long. His life
is short, but eventful. Six months. at
best, Is his span, but he leaves millions
Of descendants to carry on.
Any observer who goes to Florida IN
-
as brought about by the invasion of the
fruit fly, cannot fail. 1t seems to me, to
be deeply impressed With an uneasy
sense Of the vast threat the insect con-
Florida was digging itself beautifully
out of the boom slump. It had cleared
up all evidences Of the ravishes OF the
tornado. But, the fly Is another mat
ter.
A Fighting People.
I have no doubt that Florida will
come out of this trouble as 1t came out
of other afiictions. They are . cour-
ageous people down there-good, brave,
fighting Americans. They are facing
this latest catastrophe with courage.
But, they are hard hit and they must
be helped.
Fully realizing this and being well
aware that the establishment OF the
Mediterranean fruit fly in any one sec
ton Of the country creates o menace 70
the country as a whole, the Federal
Government has taken over control OF
Florida's most vital and most important
industry with an iron hand.
With only q few exceptions, not .
vegetable is permitted to be grown this
SSNeSoASAAsS~
of the State. No ripe fruit of any de-
scription is allowed to hang on any
tree or to remain on the ground. The
packing houses are closed down. NO
canneries are being operated. The WHO
fruits of the swampS ana forests are
being cut and destroyed. The ruthless
campaign of "clean-culture" Is being
prosecuted feverishly and resistlessly.
Now, all this has wrought frightfui
hardship on growers, and 1t has also
wrought havoc with business and COM
merce generally.
:. The green fruit now on trees IL. be-
ing allowed to hang, but when 1t ripens
the appearance of a single fruit ny
will bring down the bars again.
Large Sums Used. -.
The Department of Agriculture,
through its quarantine control organi-
zation Of the Bureau Of Entomology: Is
spending a congressional appropriation
of $4.25o,0o to combat the ny;
Florida Is now asking from the Con-
gress q separate appropriation OF $l0,-
O00, 900 to partly compensate the grow
erS for the losses they have sustained.
The bill was introduced and referred
for examination to the Secretary Of
Agriculture, who did not report upon 1t
before Congress went into recess. It now
must await until Congress reconvenes
in August.
Committees from Florida who waited
on Secretary Hyde two days before
Congress went into recess found him
rather noncommittaf. He expressed fear
that the grant Of the appropriation
might set an awkward precedent. The
President Is reported favorable with
the proviso that the State and the
growers bear half the sum specified. If
all this be true, the outlook for secur-
ing the appropriation Is not promising.
The State of Florida Is financially
embarrassed at the present time. It
gave its last available $50, 900 promptly
to the State Plant Commission to start