Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-11
insects Do 81 Billion
Damage in U. S. Yearly
War Against 10000 Types
Enters Second 100 Years

Enters Second 100 Years
By Thomos R. Henry
There are approximately 10000 kinds
Of injurious insects in the United
States.
They cause an estimated loss Of
about 81 billion annually to agriculture
alone.
This year marks the start Of the Sec
ond century Of concerted professional
efforts to curb them. Previously bug
fighting was largely hit or miss, with
little scientific understanding of insect
habits or physiology. In 1854, Presi-
dent Buchanan appointed a profess
sional entomologist, Townsend Glover,
to q position in the Patent once.
Since then the chronological force has
expanded into a small army of pro-
fesSionally trained men and women
who can claim. at least, that they
have held the rampartS against q foe
which, it sometimes is asserted, even
tually might destroy man and succeed
to his dominance over the world.
Continued growth of important crops
has been made possible, even If losses
still are large. Some Of the worst in
sect-carried diseases. notably malaria
and yellow fever, have almost been
eliminated in this country. The trou-
BILE Is that as soon as one bug seem.
ingly is under control another ap.
pears from some unexpected quarter.
perhaps as an importation from abroad
and perhaps as a mutation from some
species native to America.
Observing Tooth Anniversary.
Still. professional entomology is OBJ
serving its Tooth birthday with con-
siderable confidence that it can hold
the battle lines. But the war ad-
mittedly is far from won. The ubiqui-
tous mosquito, for example, seems to
be gaining ground despite more effec.
tive pesticides. This is largely due to
two agricultural Reconsideration in
the West and more graSSlandS in areas
Of high rainfall. The latter is particu-
larry true in the South, always mosquito
infested. Georgia, for example, had less
than a million acres in grassland in
1925. Now it has about ITO million
acres. About million acres of irrigated
pasture land along the Pacific Coast
has been added the past two years. All
this is ideal for the mosquito.
One of the more serious problems is
that OF the horn fly which is costing
American dairymen about 500 million
a year. An immigrant from Europe, it
first was reported in New Jersey in 1887.
Ten years later it had reached the Pa
ciflc Coast. Only within the past few
years have effective means Of combat
ting this pest been available and uni
versal application is very difacult.
Army Worms Devour All.
Among the most picturesque Of in
sect pests is the army worm. Like
soldiers maneuvering against an enemy.
a vast horde of these creatures will
attack a field and devour almost any
sort of crop with such energy that the
leaves rustic as If with the wind. A
native American pest, the army worm
attacked corn fields planted by early
white settlers. There have been eight
major outbreaks in this century and
in each case millions of dollars worth
of crops were destroyed. The last and
one Of the worst was in 1853. The worm
armies can be stopped by spraying
from the air.
About as serious is the corn earworm.
the worst single enemy Of the corn
farmer. The annual damage it causes
is estimated at $54 million. There are
several insecticides which effectively
control this pest, butt yet no salts
factory method of applying them mas
been worked out for field corn. Sweet
corn can be protected by an inSecticide
spray. fairly recent development.
Chinch bugs, rated as one Of the
most destructive of all cereal pests.
have record outbreaks in some part Of
the country almost every year. Between
1912 and 1914 the average annual loss
caused by these bugs was estimated at
$40 million. Through the years since
then various barriers have been de-
veloped by which the pests can be kept
out Of fields, if the farmer acts in
time.
BOrer Can Be Effected.
Another major enemy is the Euro
pean corn borer which as late as 1852
destroyed $85 million worth of corn in
81 States. It is credited with losses Of
over billion dollars in about a decade.
At last, however, research by the en-
tomologiSts is beginning to pay divi-
dends. Powerful poisons have been de-
veloped and resistant corn strains bred.
Farmers also are getting help from
natural enemies which have been found
in the Orient and Europe during q
20-year search.
The graSShopper has been among
mans worst enemies since the dawn of
civilization but recently powerful ways
Of combating it have been developed.
A plane carrying 125 pounds Of insecti-
eide can spray 1000 acres in less than
Is minutes, killing as many as half a
billion insects.
Hessian soldiers during the Revo-
luton brought a tiny gnat into this
country on their bedding. To this day
it is one of the most serious pests Of
wheat. It causes damage estimated at
about SIC million a year.
One of the great triumphs of Amer
lean entomologiSts has been the elimi.
nation Of the Mediterranean fruit fly,
which first was found in this country
near Orlando. Fla. in 1929. It was
completely wiped out in two years at
a cost of $7,250,000.
These are only a few Of the enemies
the entOmOlOOiStS ren0rt thew fore ae