Show 4 TIULrKiSUAT THE SALT LAKE: ar annti — -- JULY 27 3rORNING JOOO 'UtTtf " ’ S M 1 I Showering a cloud of poison gas on a Devoting his life to battling man’s worst enemies Dr Leland O Howard at 72 is still crusading specially-construct- against the insect pests that annually inflict two billion dollar losses on American farmers tint knowi neither old age whose warriors go battle protected by a natural race that number! among it! itweapon! deadly disease germs but is self adaptable to almost any circumstances and you have a glimpse of the insect army that is exacting from the United States a toll of about $2000000000 ‘annually It was just about half a century ago that the American government recognizing the menace of the insect foe followed the example set by three stales and employed an entomologist to outline a defensive campaign Dr C V Riley of Missouri laid the cornerstone of th Bureau of Entomology in 1877 and during its first year employed as hit assistant a young Cornell student Leland O Howard who had been interested in insects all his life Dr I ioward was destined soon to become internationally famous as probably the greatest generalissimo which the 50 years’ war on harmful insects has developed I le served as assistant entomologist from 1878 to 1894 and as chief from 1894 until his retirement from that office in 1927 He Jiow remains at the bureau as principal entomologist He has charge of the 'exchange of useful insects" of which more later and is intensely interested in medical enfield of research he has done much tomology to develop but which he claims is still virtually unexplored 1 (e is not an alarmist neither does he make the mistake of underestimating his foe When he issues warning regarding a new pest that warning is based upon the experience of more than 50 years of painstaking study during which he hat measured the strength of the enemy from a thousand points of reconnaissance IMAGINE tr - f and seven hundred thousand different species and 1 judge that from three to six million addi- ‘rs'V ) - tional species exist "Man is estimated to have been on the planet between 300000 and 500000 years We have excellent evidence to show that the insect were well eitabhshed 50000000 years ago Their fossils have been found in rock of the Tertiary Period and lome of these bear a cloie resemblance to the insects of today "1 his ancient race then has had millions of years in which to evolve d forms equipped to combat even the most adverse circumstance! able to feed upon practically every knon substance y : i ” ' V--v ‘ - - - y V - long ago lost the armor against external injury developing an internal skeleton instead 1 he insect kept his armor he wears his skeleton on the outside and this hard casing protects his muscles from injury It also gives the insect a strength of limb three times greater proportionally than man’s “An insect's blood penrtrates its whole body as in man but unlike man the purifying air alto it diffused throughout its body instead of being confined to a restricted area the lungs Insects are born equipped for life able to take care of themselves from the time they hatch and they die at their peak of efficiency without knowing the infirmity of old age ITiev have no problems of dietetics they can eat about anything Some feed on living plants some attack animals some are cannibalistic preying upon ' - xx f ' r" -- r ' ' ' f ?' v’ s y Lx ' i f If ' t ' Dr Leland O Howard rec ognized 35 years ago the danger from the boll Weevil and proposed measures which would have oved millions He has spent 50 years fighting “man's most important rivals in the biological struggle” 'ja1' X" pr ? ' are Consequences ignor- ing one such warning to the tune of losses astgrr-gatin- X k g $250000000 $300000000 a year In from to 1892 a small apparently insignificant insect crossed the from Mexico Rio Grande and scenting distant fields of cotton proceeded to make himself at home in Brownsville Texas That insect waj tlrf cotton boll weevil the pest that has crippled the gieatest industry of the South whose name has become a throughout the nation Dr Howard was one ol the few persons who recognized the menace of this insect 35 years ago He issued a sharp warning and proposed a line of defense that line of defense was as simple as it would in all probability have been effective He asked the Texas legislature to pass a hill requiring farmers in the mall infested area to dcon tinue planting for a year or two in order to cut off the food supply and starve out the 1 he bill had the weevil sup-oof the governor but failed passage “Insects are man’s most important rivals in the biological struggle for supremacy and in many ways are far better equipped for survival than the human species" says Dr Howard "But I do not believe that they will ever gain the supremacy Still we must face the fact that while man dominates only by virtue of his intelligence the insects stand at the top of a race far more ancient and endowed with the highest degree of what we call instinct "We have here at the Bureau of Entomology hocks a jf catalogues clescribir g between rt w CTlip :remfMSPEXi i0 v t 4i 1 n I If iiii w I fes I Wt W i4s M te I 4ihLsW LI 1 powerful weapons led by a corps of officers commanding a veritable army of men Along a thousand fronts he has watched the battle rage an unending battle that costs millions of dollars each year and knows no armistice Behind the lines intricate problems of control are being studied in laboratories New legboth state and federal is islation demanded continually as situations shift and change along the front ODES of combat vary according to the foe and the entomologists have adapted to their uses many of the weapons developed during the World War Airplanes are used for reconnoitering purposes where particularly in the forest pilots can locate by the browned nd dying crowns of trees areas where the pine hark beetles are at wotk ind sects that destroyed in the Modoc National Forest ef California 184000000 board feet UnFighting the Mediterranean fruit fly of timber during 1927 alone and which are told damage had already been done in Florida to f:matfd cause damage aggregating before quarantines could be established a year 7 his National Cuardsman is halting a young Chemical warfare methods have been develwoman who is carrying m orange branch over oped to a high degree during Dr Howard's the deadline d career sprays throw poison into A the tree tops slaying the enemy by billions themselves and other insects They attack and Airplanes especially constructed so as to operate at a low altitude and slow rate of siieed devour furniture clothes growing timber carhave been used to dust poisons Such as calcium pets and books” Dr Howard has seen the war on insect pests arsenate upon cotton fields and arsenate of lead inupon forests Swampy lakes in Louisiana develop from mere guerilla fighting into a highly fested with larvae of malaria mosquitos have org Mixed scientific conflict calling into play SCopyrif ht 1930 Pjr EvcryWoflk Mugatln — 1'rijJUj ia V S heavily-infeste- $20-0000- High-powere- been dusted with Paris green The insect's sense smell many times more acute than man's has been played upon with poisoned baits cleverly mixed to imitate a favorite food Strict quarantines have been laid upon plants and fruits from other lands and every port of entry is guarded bv inspectors who examine seed and seedlings and every consignment of food and grain from other lands Certain plants suspected of harboring a foreign foe are taboo and others are kept in “prison hospitals” until they are proved free of pests Along the Rio Grande an entomological patrol has so far proved effective in keeping out the Mexican Jruit fly a tough customer capable of working havoc should it escape the patrol and reach the prosperous orchards of California Just now the attention of entomologists is focused upon a “new" pest recently discovered in Florida In spite of the eternal vigilance of federal and state inspectors the Mediterranean fruit fly held at bay for many years because of its bad reputation in other countries has made its presence known in five different counties A strict quarantine was clamped down within a week of its discovery and special apuropnatiuns aie being made by the state and federal governments to effect its complete eradication An expenditure of millions of dollars will be necessary before control is established experts say of well-train- iMtei ed they have multiplied as they never would under old conditions “Then too man upset that delicate balance which nature established on the different continents through centuries of endeavor In the North America of the Indians that balance was maintained Native species were preyed upon by their special parasites and by birds and these kept them from increasing too rapid jy Ever since Columbus discovered America the trouble has been increasing as transportation increased between various the ease of communication TT7HY the insect army intact for 50000-- should suddenly be recognized as a menace serious enough to influence international trade and cause governments to stop and take notice is a question that puzzles ordinary people but the answer is clear 000 years enough to Dr Howard began to cultivate crops on a created conditions favorable to the enormous multiplication of certain insects an unlimited supply bv pnthpg a( their of food In feeding his own increasing millions "When large scale man he he has fed increasing A) ’ countries ‘‘New trees and new plants were brought to America by the colonists and today refrigera- highly-develope- VERTEBRATES lj SOhave By ALMA CIIESNUT a race cotton-fic- The war with the boll Weevil is a war to the death planes cover infected fields with a fog of annihilation billions of insects tion makes it possible to transport even perishable fruits and vegetables With these importations from the Old Worfd arrived Old World pests and these finding their ancient enemies Foreign pests lacking increased enormously that have invaded the United States are among the most dangerous of insect enemies Species such as the Japanese beetle which do little damage at home run riot in America causing millions of dollars worth of damage” The recognized principle of parasite control has led to extensive research by Uncle Sam’s entomological army and an attempt has been made to restore the balance of nature by bringing some of these beneficial insects into the United States Dr Howard lias been particularly interested in this work carried on by a corps of scientists who are continually scouring other lands tor parasites that prey upon different pests Branch offices of the bureau are located in India Japan France the Canal Zone Hawaii and Mexico and during 1928 in Italy entomologists were prospecting North Africa and Central Europe for the parasitic controls of the gipsy and brown-ta- il moths During 1927 100000 parasites of these species were collected in Poland and Hungary and the following year more than 4600000 were liberated in the United States Bureau of Entomology has an "rogues’ gallery" containing the photographs and records of hundreds of destructive insects Asked to select from the impressive array the 10 arch criminals of the insect world Dr Howard listed: 1 he cotton boll weevil and the pink boll worm guilty of conspiring to ruin the cotton trade the coddling moth the greatest enemy of apple orchards the Hessian fly credited with destroying 20000000 bushels of Kansas wheat during 1927 and damaging crops in at least four other states p4he alfalfa weevil whose territorial range has been advanced each year until now it has been reported from Nebraska ready to invade one of the greatest centers of alfalfa production in the country The Japanese beetle which attacks shade trees ornamental plants field crops and occupies 19827 square miles an increase of 5908 square miles over the area covered in 1927 the European corn borer whose destruction can be imagined by the fact that the first session of the Seventieth Congress passed s bill authorizing an appropriation of $7000000 for a control campaign in the Corn Belt though Congress adjourned without making the funds available the chinch bug which attacks grain the plum curculio and the gipsy moth a European leaf eater that attacks nearly all trees native or imported and has stripped woodland areas in New England completely of leaves f i Ml V rr THE HOWARD as a student at Cornell and this a physician training helped equip him for leadership ir medical entomology H" was out to "get" the house fly in the '90s and his bock “The House Fly — Disease Carrier" has been translated into many different languages He has worked to establish an active cooperation between medical men and entomologists in studying insects that carry disease nd since 1904 has been an officer of the U S Public Health Service Dr Howard points out that not even the mosquito has been studied as extensively as it should be and that there are hundreds of species related to those known to be carriers which have not been studied at all Among some of the maladies insects inflict upon man are typhus yellow lever malaria sleeping sickness creeping eruption and Rocky Mountain fever I he battle is lor hie and death DR to become U Si ' |