The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-04-30
By F. H, JETER

There are many who have made
dire predictions in times past that
mans one great fight for final
possession of the earth will not
De with Japs or Nazis or their
successors in the same theology,
but with those strange, voracious
creatures known as insects. Ask
any farmer about his troubles with
insects and he will tell you that
the pests are increasing. I don't
know how many insects birds de-
stroy but if they can be of any
help at all, we had best become
bird lovers and try to aid the
birds in their program of bug de-
struction. 1t seems that the trou-
BILE is becoming increasingly
great year by year.
Just the other day a farmer
came in bearing some samples of
insect damage and telling how
the army worm had invaded his
best oats and were destroying the
crop completely. Hardly had he
left before another called over
the phone to report the same kind
of trouble. Then, everyone knows
what has been happening to
wheat which was planted early
last fall. Not only has the Hessian
fly almost destroyed it, but this
wheat became the focus of an in
festation which has spread to the
later-planted grain and this too
is being consumed.
never saw a Hessian fly until
this spring. 1 had heard how they
injure the wheat crops of the mid
west unless the crop is planted
after certain date in the fall
which is called the fly-free date.
However, J. Myron Maxwell,
very realistic insect man, attach
ed to the Agricultural Extension
Service as extension entomologist,
brought in some samples of nice
looking wheat the other day.
t'Wheat like this should make a
good crop, shouldn't it?" he ask
ed in a guileless sort of way. Be-
ing a wheat grower in my own
right, I agreed with him and then
he had his fun. He began to strip
back the sheaves or leaves of
wheat about the upsurging young
stalk and, under every leaf, he
showed me one or two of the
larvae or pupae of the Hessian fly.
He said that the fly would so in
jure the stalk that it would never
make a full head Of wheat.
Many livestock and poultry
farmers planted wheat in their
mixtures for cereal hays last fall
and they planted the mixtures
early so as to have some grazing
last. fall as well. as later grazing
during the winter and spring. The
Hessian fly has attacked this wheat
so severely that one county agent
reported the other day that the
grain in his county was showing
unmistakable signs to potash hun
ger. Potash hunger, by the way,
is indicated by the stalks of grain
falling over before maturity and
harvest.
But there are chinch bugs in the
grain also and just as soon as
the early corn comes along, these
bugs will crawl from the grain
fields to. the corn fields and feast
on this crop to such an extent that
no corn is produced where they
10 along. They can be stopped by
erecting a small barrier strip
Of a white powder known as di'
nitro dust.
In eastern Carolina, the insect
problem is getting serious. Not
only do bugs infest the grain but
thev also are on tobacco from the
time it is in the plant beds until
it is ready for setting in the field
There are other insects which de
stroy soybeans and the summer
nav crops in the fall and there Is
the ever-present cotton boil Weevll
The boil weevil did little damage
in 1914 but let there be a RAINY
season in summer and he Will
take one-half of the crop.
There are worms, potato beetles
flea beetles, corn borers, and
host of other insects now affectlns
North Carolina crops. Unless tne
farmer is willing to spend some
time and money fighting the pests
with insecticides or other pre-
ventatives, he risks losing Ills en-
tire crop. North Carolina rank
high in the value of its cash crops
In 1s43, for instance, this value du
reached the total OF about soov'
600. 900. Mr.. Maxwell says that INT
loss from insects each year reacn
es the staggering total OF forty mil
lion dollars a year average.
Our people used over $l,5oo,oo,
worth of insect control matefls
.. .alo ~~l %k;e 1,ea saved crOOs