Show t J l f l t r 11 tnt t el l r 1 I 0 l ii 1 f j jr e t I r far 0 r 3 f SCiences Science's Latest IngenIous l lr r yay y J I i t J f kf 4 Plan for Saving Crops i Gib 8 ib A 1 y W t j 1 From Destruction b f I by FIght R C r a sya iP I P I tI V 1 I 1 I r JJ c tt V t mg In Bugs WIth Bugs a 71 t r r I S 4 f 1 I t tJ J y t I I ii 1 r A I Ir P On the right the Ca a- a beetle which s has been imported to fight its natural enemies ene- ene mies the wicked caterpillars cater- cater caterpillars pillars pillars Two stages of the beetles beetle's d e v are are shown the picture nearest the the center of the page being being that ofa of a full full full- J grown Jarva larva feeding I on on a caterpillar R LELAND 0 O HOWARD head DR of the Bureau of Entomology has just lust arrived from a n trIp to Europe which had for its object the gathering of insect parasites chiefly tho those e which are natural enemies of tho corn borer s Newly introduced into the United States the corn borer is an alarming menace It threatens our greatest agri agri- agricultural agricultural agricultural cultural crop and unless a stop atop can be put to its ravages and rapid spread it it i like likely to become a much more sellous problem than the cotton boll weevil The corn borer has long lone on been famil familiarly known in Europe where it does no er sexy great amount of damage because It is kept in m check by other insects that feed upon it But arriving in this coun coun- country country try as an unwelcome immigrant it has hns left its natura natural enemies behind and con consequently is enabled to multiply at a fab fab- fabulous fabulous ulous rate unrestricted It is the same way with the Japanese c beetle which at the pre present present ent time is b work work- working working ing such havoc over an area of square miles in New Jersey and Penn Penn- s syhania h ania especially in 10 fruit orchards and ands s patches In its native Nippon whence it seems to have been fetched wIth nursery stock stock it is JS not a species Im- Im Importantly Im Importantly m destructive but over here It threatens to lay waste whole hole dIstricts eating every green thing that grows Generally speaking our most destructive destructive tive insects are imported species which of no great economic importance at home I become plagues in this country because released from the checks provided ed by byi i nature Thus the tho gypsy moth lar Jar lar which does such enormous damage I as a de defoliator in New England is cornn com com- comI common I mon enough in Europe yet relatively harmless over there for the reason that its numbers are kept down by multitudinous multitudinous foes Man unassisted can do very little to keep down the numbers numb of an objection objection- objectionable objectionable objectionable able Insect Bugs multiply at such a fabulous rate that they would soon wipe the human race raca off the face of the earth by devouring all food plants Jf if every species were not the prey of othe other species species Experience has taught that the best way to deal with a destructive im iro- iro ported im ported ported insect is to fetch the natural ene ene- enemies enemies mies of that insect from the country whence it Jt came propagate them and let them loose Thus within the last few months a number of species of insects that feed on the Japanese beetle beetIe have haye been brough broughall broughall aU all the way from Japan carried Japan carried in the iceboxes of steamships across the Pa- Pa PacIfic Pa Pacific and forwar forwarded forward fd in refrigerator cars carsto carsto carsto to tho the entomological laboratory at Riv Riv- Riverton Riverton erton erton N J The object abject of the cold stor stor- storage stor- stor storage storage age in m transit was to delay development until the material reached its ita destina destina- destination destination tion by creating as it were an artIficial winter The method commonly adopted by na- na nature na nature ture tore to keep any kind lind of animal from be- be becoming becoming be becoming coming too numerous is to provide ene ene- enemIes ene- ene enemies enemies mies to prey upon it Whenever a species species species cies of insect multiplies in ex excessive num num- numbers numbers bers hers owing to conditions accidentally fa- fa favorable fa favorable its parasites always at hand likewISe prosper and soon assailing the hordes wipe them out whole whole- wholesale wholesale wholesale sale Accordingly in looking for parasites of an Imported insect in the foreign coun coun- country coun- coun country country try of its origin the e expert pert entomologist logist seeks localities where that insect is re- re reported reported re reported ported at the tho time to be most moat numerous There he gathers egg masses and pupas pupa pup or of the injurious bug in the certainty that they contain many of its parasites It is the parasites of ot course that he wants and when he gets home he can an hatch them out at leisure The parasites are arc mostly very tiny tillY flies that lay ay their eggs in or upon the caterpillars or other insects which lire are theIr accustomed victims From these eggs maggots are hatched which feed upon the bod body of the prey Some of these minute flies actually deposit their eggs in the eggs of ot th the the insect attacked I s sv v ii Above an ear of corn com being ruined w yi ey by one of the voracious corn com bor bor- borers ers which do millions million of dollars damage to the corn com crop in this rm country every year and which the theY ther w r p ps s r S government scientists are now corn com Y bating batin by encouraging the spread r r P L LI I r f i a ai i pl j x of an insect that devours the com corn riY Y borer as greedily as aa the latter does d m sK ri r b Q 4 orb orbi i l lv v I the e corn com comOn On the left the thein Japanese beetle the newest nevest of the insect pests pesta to make its appearance in thi this country and andone one r e for which science hopes to find findt t x a natural enemy 5 lit lits f s 4 f P region because liS as y d i t q n i ii soon as the plants J i i ia a vT t 1 a Y n K begin to grow plant attack them But y e the 11 l i t tie t l e beetles beetle to w wt t y r d w 8 i scattered over the I I Ii fi- fi jrr o melon me patches when hen JA the plant lice first appear gobble them r j up and bO keep to ton n l k kJ J a numbers that rt theIr vA I y r they the can do no im f 1 f t damage r j Much i has been r rr r f t w w 4 done to destroy these 1 V e y r l I i c foes of the farmer Ge GeR Ger R r y b f s a through earning Fp p dM u k nt X 1 pOIsonous I dut upon F Air v M t tr r s L t ta ti a i them flom aIrplanes R r el W Wand l and ances for oy y e rl t i 0 oser er wide lae l i areas from a great Cheesecloth cages under which insects that live at the expense of t I heIght nut But m in spite other insects are being raised for use P in of the country's crops y yc Q of of these excellent methods the destroy destroy- destro so eo that the larv of the latter are dh dis ers still manage to eased before they are hatched Of all the do damage est estimated mated caterpillars that come Into the world not at millions of dot dot- more than 2 per cent it ft is reckoned stir sur- lars yearly early s tv el tG 2 k i sae ne long enough to reach j r maturity the tf ya X The grasshopper remaining 98 per cent are kIlled by pars para ta 1 r rya ya whIch is t r a SItes i of BIble times man man- manA manas A laboratory has been established at t ages to do as much Melrose Hi g i near Boston for foras rc as worth s breeding parasites of the gypsy moth and of damage m in this r the moth latter an imported country each year y insect particularly objectionable on ac k and m in bad bd years ears count of its poisonous hairs which float J F Fyk doubles Its ofin f fJ 46 It y about In the air In two years 3 ears fifty sf a rt a 1 ties seven species hostile to those x s a C a c s f pests five t What thIS classical of them beetles and the rest were flies farmer of the foe fetched to this country mostly from Eu- Eu EuAn Eu sp J An air service balloon do unchecked IS army being used in New Hampshire to fight the gypsy can rope The but sone some of them from Japan r moths The balloon is moored at an altitude of feet while sprayers at- at at graphically described parasite parasItes kept kept alive as were also to it spread wide the BIble What It the beetles by over a area a powder that is deadly to the moths m in feeding them e on gypsy i lands to farm v ere In millions for subsequent distribution One species of fly that has proved highly efficient lays several thousand micro micro- microscopic microscopic eggs on the leaves of trees When the caterpillars have eaten the leaves maggots hatch out and proceed to devour their inside works The territory in New England Infested by the gypsy moth has bas steadily extended because the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1900 1800 tooka took a notion to stop making ap- ap appropriations appropriations ap appropriations to fight tight the insect But for that piece of foolishness it would proba proba- proba- proba bly by probably have havo been wiped out by now Dur Dur- ing During a period of five years ho however ever it as as allowed to spread unhindered and the situation at present seems hopeless On the other hand a system of management has been developed whereby with the help of imported para parasites sites the problem is expected to be re- re re reduced to 1 still small 11 importance a feature of it being the the removal removal removal of certain kinds of cf trees particularly white oak and gray bIrch which provide the caterpillars wIth their favorite food Certain destructive grain weevils have been driven out of many elevators and warehouses by introducing a few l- l specimens mens mens of a tiny parasitic fly In dealing with the he cabbage worm a devastating green caterpillar of giant size the dIs dIs- dIstribution dis distribution of parasites has been encouraged encouraged encouraged aged by collecting of the insect In- In Insect in insect sect pla placing mg them in boxes covered wire net and permitting the little flits flies to escape while retaining the moths that emerge No more than a rich very person can canall canan canan all an insect escapes escape parasites They stay atay right by lim f for r he i 1 theIr food or at least provender for their off off- offspring off offspring spring When an entomologist is mak ing making a study of the life history of a bug he keeps it in a glass jar or box supply fog ing supplying it with nth plenty to eat and watches its transformations As it develops from egg to grubor grub or caterpillar and from the I L theL s pon ion were five species ot of oft t beetles They are bugs of ofA A to prey In nature there are plenty of such bugs which are to the insect world n what beasts of prey are areto areto 6 to the tho mammalian king king- kingdom kingdom dom A familiar example i JS is the common lommon v a t f of our gardens which is isS S really quite a ferocious creature aid for that rea rell- reason reason S iI son very useful inasmuch as It makes a business of S j attacking and devouring caterpillars caterpIllars and other pests Such prey bugs lire are largely used in m fighting pestIferous Jn insects being j bred and planted where f I they will have a chance s to tackle the latter latter Thus the fierce beetle m 10 Europe an active do- do destroyer de destroyer of the gypsy moth A laboratory in Melrose Highlands Mass that was imported I into thIs specializes specialize in the rearing of varieties of beetles country a few years ago that will devour injurious bugs bug for use in Massachusetts eth Its eggs are laid in the larval form to pupa or chrysalis nd finally to perfect insect its special pars para para para-i ites are sure to appear and knowledge in regard to these may be ba well worth having But it is 18 an old story that Bugs have lesser bugs upon their backs to bite em and so 80 it is not surprising to learn that the parasites in their turn have one ene enemies mules mies that prey upon them These Thebe o enemies it is obviously desirable to exclude and so 0 when imported consignments of egg gg masses winter nests pup pupas or arrive at an entomological laboratory station in this country they are carefully inspected with a y yiew w to the destructIon of such unwelcome Intruders Among the insect enemies of tie the Jap Jap- Japanese Japanese anese beetle recently fetched from Nip Nip Nip- I t r ground near an infested tree and the grubs grubB as soon as hatched climb the tree and attack the caterpillars After be- be becomIng becoming be becoming coming full-fledged full beetles they keep on wIth the good work They live several years and already they have become faIrly numerous inthe in the the neighborhood ot of Boston We are accustomed to regard the com corn common cornmon common mon ladybird beetle ns as the most moet inno info innocent innocent cent rent of insects Much folklore is JS con con netted with it and even some sentiment The child says Ladybird ladybird fly flyaway flyaway away home perhaps opening a window to bid it depatt depart Certainly it is a crew ture harmless hai haJ to man but it is a bug of prey nevertheless feeding upon plant lice In that way it is useful A ladybIrd much like the little beo- beo bee 1 tie tle so familiar to us saved the orange Industry of California An insect called the fluted scale which sucked the sap of the trees had infested the orange and lemon orchards of that state to such an extent by 1888 that many owners were ere dIgging up their trees r been Cled the cultivation of cItrus fruIts in Nort li America must soon lave have been abandoned altogether The fluted scale whose exudation gave the hunks and branches of the Jrees trees a leprous appearance had cOIr come come with nur nur- nur- nur nursery nursery sery ery stock Australia But as was as learned leal ned it wa was rendered harmless in that country by a ladybird beetle which pre preyed cd upon it Some Somo of the beetles wel e fetched to California in a steamships steamship's and liberated under a tent covered tree A Afew Afew Afew few escaped and within a few weeks they and their offspring cleaned up thou thou- thousands thousands thousands sands of orange and lemon trees in m the neighborhood Within a year the scale insect had practically disappeared from the state Then the beetles gobbled one another up until only a necessary low few I sere ere left to perpetuate the species This b beetle called culled the breeds with such amazing rapidity that in m SIX months one female will become the tho an ancestress of seventy the billions of hel he kind Insects in m general multiply at so phenomenal a rate that mankind would be wholly unable to 10 to cope with them were wele It not that species prey upon specIes Our very Cry existence in this world depends upon pal and prey proy bugs In early spring of each year men ox- ox expert pert in the business go up to the high SIerras to gather ladybird beetles which they find assembled in bunches undo d ep snow The rhe beetles seek those hi heights in late lats autumn to hibernate hibernate- They rhey are collected sacks and brought down from the mountains several tons of them an- an annually annually an annually for distribution over the canta growing canta loupe growing areas of the Imperial Va Val Val-i ley Icy ley If It it were not for these prey bugs no cantaloupes could be produced in that of nd the ex- ex ex extensive science in this tillS country y before belore cultivation of our lands checked it is a matter mattu of history The story of how these grasshopper destroys destro destroy destroyers the farm farmlands farmlands erf ers literally marched upon lands along the Missouri lumping jumping into the river riser rl er and it by lumping onto each others other's backs Is i an of how far they can go go- go goThere There Is no longer any |