Newspaper Page Text
PAGE EIGHT
~ OUR INSECT MENACE
Foundmby Milliox;s in Every Part of The Country, and——Damage
Thev Do Life and Property Cannot Be Estimated. Facts Given.
Every man, woman and child in the
United States, whether living in the
town, city or village or on the farm,
comes in contact in one way or another
with insects. There are about 500,-
000 kinds of living creatures on the
earth, and about three-fourths of these
are insects, writes Everett Spring in
Pennsylvania Grit. ‘
They are found by millions in every
part of the country; in the vegetable
garden, in the orchard, on the flowers,
on your back porch, in the dairy house
and in the pantry. They are virtually |
everywhere, and many times these in-|
sect pests have caused humans to quit‘
their place of abode. |
The malarial mosquito, for instancc,;
is said by some entomologists to have
been the cause of the downfall of the
old Egyptian and Greek civilizations.
Yellow iever, carried by mosquitoes,
played its part in the destruction of‘
many lives within our own recollec
tion. Hundreds of similar examples,
whereby insects have contributed to
the death toll of the world, each year,
could be cited. The magnitude of the
insect menace is, in fact, appalling. ]
Texas Invaded by White Ants.
In a small town in Texas a m:ml
was obliged to sell his family cow so |
as to cut down expenses that his im-|
mediate family might live since it \’\'(’iSE
impossible to keep ants out of (‘ilhvrl
‘the milk or butter. Hundreds of oth-|
er citizens were not only similarly nf-l
flicted, but in other ways. One wo-,
man in the same town caught ],2()(),—'
000 ants in her home in one week. She |
adopted the method of putting a lit-i
tle syrup on a shingle and returning in|
a few minutes to scald them in a vessel |
after which they were strained ofi.l
She counted the number held in a|
measuring gliss and estimated the en
tire amount to total the above.
These particular species of white
ants, once regarded as peculiar to the |
tropics, are moving north, and there |
are increasing complaints of their de
predations on books, furniture and on
wearing apparel.
Year by year and even month by
month our insect. pest problem is be
coming more serious. It is greatly
more alarming today than it was 20
years ago even though the number of
entomologists has doubled. !
The annual loss to property and
human life in the United States caus
ed by insects is appalling. A few years
ago the bureau of entomology made
a careful estimate of the damage donel
by insects in the United States, whichl
shows an annual loss of crops as fol
lows. Cereals, $234,204,600; hay, $116,-
230,500: cotton, $140,631,100; tobacco,
$16,000,000; sugar crops, $8,436,800;
fruits, $141,264,300; farm forest prod
ucts, $22,138,800; other farm crops,!
$29,138,700; natural forest and forest
products, $100,000,000; products in
storage, $100,000,000; insect borne dis
eases of man, $150,000,000; and direct
damage to domestic animals, $100,000,-
000; making a grand total loss by in
sects of $1,554,869,300.
Insect Loss to Agriculture.
In the best judgment of the ento
mologists of the State Departments of |
Agriculture the loss caused by insects
in 1924 amounted to more than two
billion dollars. The cotton boll weevil
is one of man’s most destructive and
dangerous enemies. It originated in!
the plateau of Mexico or Central
America. It crossed the Rio Grande,l
near Brownsville Texas, in 1882. By
1894 it had spread to half a dozen coun
ties in southern Texas. Since that
time the boll weevil has extended it’s
range annually from 40 to 160 miles
a season. Practically 87 per cent of
the cotton belt is now infested with
the boll weevil, and the area now in
fested produces about 97 per cent of
the total cotton crop or the United
States. .
The losses caused by the boll wee
vil are both direct and indirect, and
extend throughout the entire financial
and economic structures of the cotton
belt. It is impossible to estimate the
losses due to the depreciated land val
ues, closing down of cotton gins and
oil mills, and other indirect results of
the invasion of the boll weevil
On the basis of direct loss it is es
timated there is an annual loss of $300,-
000,000 in addition to the direct loss in
crops of $140,631,100 mentioned above.
Expansion of Infested Areas. |
The possible production of offspring
in a single season of a pair of weevils
has been put at 12,755,100. This in
sect has a well developed instinct of
extending it's range into new territory.
1t is this instinct that has caused the
extension of the infested area in the
United States from year to year.
At the last session of congress $2,-
500,000 was appropriated to be used in
the warfare against insects, of which
$1,300,000 is to be spent in fighting
three species of bugs—the European
corn borer, the gypsy moth and the
Japanese beetle.
The European corn borer came to
this country about 1910 in broom
corn imported from Hungary and
Italy. It is the corn pest of prime im
portance.‘ It does not confine it’s rav-
SR IR e
is a prescription for
Malaria, Chills and Fever, Dengue
or Bilious Fever.
It kills the germs.
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Dst 33355 Mgl IISR 115 Bath
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Bt el dI3E 3 2un Best Cafe in Albany
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ages to corn alone, but it attacks a
large variety of useful and ornamental
grasses as well. The variety of it's
destructiveness adds greatly to the dif
ficulty in controlling or destroying it.
Present indications are that this in
sect is about to invade the area of the
most intensive production of corh. It
is, to prevent the ravages of this pest
that part of the congressional appro
priation is to be used.
i Earworm Is Also Destructive.
- This corn borer is not the only insect
pest that corn has 1o suffer from. The
most desfructive corn pest in the
United States is the corn earworm.
‘The earworm occurs throughout the
country wherever corn is grown. The
little vetch or sweet corn grown back
of the house siiffers most from it’s rav
ages. While in the north the losses
are heavy in the south it is almost im
possible to grow the vegetable. As a
low estimate the damage from this
particular insect exceeds $40,000,000.
Although corn is it's favorite food
Kill the Insects and Save the Food
People, like animals and insect, are found in largest numbers where food
is easiest to obtain. They too are gregarious. Our growing population
must be taken care of and provided for in advance. One hundred years
ago it took 87 per cent of our population to raise our food. Today 26 per
cent is doing the same job. s g
Government statisticians say that 38,000,000 acres more than at' pres
ent under cultivation will be needed in 1955 to grow our crops, with no
increase in our imports, to feed the normal increased population. Last
year the nation imported more than $400,000,000 worth of raw foodstuffs
and food animals, Considering then, our insect menace would it not be
wise for our own good to combat with the best of our ability this alarm
ing situation? It is idle to change the production of our farm products and
limit them to bring on high prices until we are producing more than we
can consume. Likewise, to change our diet would be next to im
possible, Better kill off the insects for our own preservation.
this insect is an important enemy of
reproduction that makes insects so
several other crops. On cotton it is
ranked next to the boll weevil in the
amount of damage done. It is also an
enemy of early potatoes and likewise
attacks the buds and seed pods of the
tobacco plant.. It also can subsist on
other plants, some of which are the
cow pea, beans, okra, sunflower, green
peppers and squash, all of which are
planted in the little garden of the
small town dweller.
A Real Japanese Peril.
The Japanese beetle will become one
of the worst insect scourges that has
ever attacked the United States. It is
a real Japanese peril. It was discover
ed in 1916, near Camden, N. J., and
came to this country hidden away in
balls of earth on the roots of imported
Japanese plants. It is a greenish bee
tle about the size of a potato bug.
Its grub lies under ground feeding on
the roots of grasses and vegetables.
Its numbers are myriad and its appe
tite is insatiuable. It is especially de
tructive in peach orchard, but it also
attacks any kind of vegetation.
So much damage is ‘threatened by
this insect, which is now confined to
New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania
that the United States Bureau of En
tomology has established a Japanese
beetlel aboratory at Riverton, N. Y,
in the heart of the infected area.
Sweet Potatoes Threatened
The growing of sweet potatoes in
the United States ranks second as a
vegetable, and the value oi the crop
reaches nearly $150,000,000 annually.
Now this industry is threatened by
the ravages of an insect brought in
A CALIFORNIA CO-ED WRITES
ABOUT HIM AS SPIRIT
MOVES HER.
There may be a lot of them over at
the University of California, and therei
probably are, but there is one gayi
young co-ed who certainly knows men.
Just listen to her:
“Once upon a time I thought T knew
men, and could marry one with my
eyes shut and my hands tied behind
me. But I have discovered:
‘ “If you flatter man it frightens him
to death,
! “If you permit him to make love to
'vou he soon tires of you.
“If you don’t he is offended irom the
start.
“1f you agree with him on every
thing he soon sees no interest in you.
“If you don’t you cease to charm
him.
“If you don’t believe all he tells you
he thinks you are cynic. :
“If you do he thinks you are a fool.
“If 'you wear gay colors and gay
hats he hesitates to take you out.
“If you wear a little J)rowu toque
and a tailored suit he takes you out
but gazes all evening at some woman
in gay colors.
“If you are jealous of him he can't
endure you.
“If you are not he can’t stand you.
“If you approve of his smoking and
indulge in his gayeties he says you are
leading him to the devil.
“If you disapprove of his smoking
and do not join in his gayeties he says
you are driving him to the devil
from abroad, and known as the sweet
potatoe weevil. The destruction that
has been wrought by this insect has
been so severe that l)sses of from 25
to 50 per cent are commonly sustained.
The annual loss to the gulf country
alone has been estimated at $4,000,000.
Nearly every plant and vegetable has
its enemies, which must be fought. The
fight does not end even after the farm
er has stored the grain he has made,
but they follow the grain to the gran
ary and there continue their work of
destruction.
~ Attack Trees in Forests.
When the farmer goes to the woods
to get trees to build himself a house
or make some furniture he finds that
his enemy, the insect, has been there
before him. He discovers that some
of his most valuable trees are dying be
cause of the attacks of insects. He sees
the wood-sawyer, the pinhole borer
besides the roundheaded borer and a
host of beetles.
After he has converted his trees in
to lumber or furniture he is still pur
sued by the unrelenting insects and at
times he may have to rebuild or move
to another locality.
Millions Spent Annually.
It is their almost fabulous rate of
formidable. ‘A single pair of potato
bugs, if all their offsprings and de-
scendants survive, might in one sea
son produce 60,000,000 of their kind.
One pair of boll weevils can produce
12,755,100 in a single year. The com
mon plant louse produces 13 genera
tions in a year. It has been estimated
that beginning with a single pair
the descendants of these, survived,
would in the twelfth generation com
pose so vast an army that if marshal
ed in single file 10 to inch, they would
stretch from the earth to a point so
far that a beam of light at the head of
the procession, travelling at a rate of
168,000 miles per second, would require
2,500 years to reach the planet on
which we live.
Millions of dollars now are being
spent annually to control plant diseases
and insect pests in this country, and
prevent the entry of others from for
eign lands. Quarantines within the
United States are maintained, pro
hibiting, for instance, the movement
of cotton from an infected area in the
state of Texas into another state.
Fruits on Embargo List.
An embargo on malaga grapes from
Spain is maintained because of the
presence of the Mediterranean fruit fly.
Al} fruits except pineapples and ba
'nanas grown in the Hiwaiian Islands
are shut out from the American mark
et because of the Mediterranean fruit
fly and the melon fly. Several species
‘oi the Mexican fruits are on the em
bargo list because of the Mexican
’fruit fly.
. But notwithstanding the activity of
the government and the labor of eco
nomic entomology the work of de
struction goes on, and no remedy has
|yct been devised to prevent the in
crease and spread of this great scourge.
“If you are affectionate he soon tires
of your kisses and seeks consolation
in some other womans.
“If you are a sweet old fashioned
clinging vine he doubts if you have
any brains.
“If you are modern, advanced and
indepgndent he doubts if you have
scruples or a heart.
L YTE you are cute and boyish he longs
for a soul-mate. '
“If you are brilliant he longs for a
playmate.
“If you are temperamental he longs
for a helpmate. 2
“And all the time he’s falling in
love with you he's trying to make you
what you are not, never were or never
will be.
“Now please do not ask how I dis
covered all these things about man.”
FIVE HUNDRED BOLSHEVISTS
ARE ARRAIGNED FOR TRIAL
Bulgaria Will Summon 10,000 Wit
nesses in Large Political Trial
More than 500 men and women will
be tried and 10,000 witnesses will ap
pear at Tirnova, Bulgaria, during the
trial just beginning.
Bulgaria is trying men and women
for the tragic events of 1922, under
Premier Stambulinski. Death sen
tences have been asked in more than
100 cases. It is Europes largest po
litical trial in many years.
RANDOLPH COUNTY’S TOTAL
TAX IS $22 PER THOUSAND
The commissioners of Randolph
county have levied a tax of $l2 on the
thousand for county purposes, and $5
for schools. The tax rate of $5 per
thousrd for the state makes a total
tax of $22 per thousand for property
owners of that county to pay this year.
BIRDS CAUSE BURNING
. OF FIFTEEN DWELLINGS
Birds percHed on an electric light
wire caused a short circuit which
resulted in the destruction of fifteen
houses, in Pontoise France. Fire de
stroyed the houses.
PAGES TURNED BY “JUICE.”
A book measuring 6 feet 10 inches
by 4 feet 7 inches and weighing 500
pounds is being exhibtied in New
York city. The volume is richly illus
trated and has 19 leaves or pages that
are turned at regular intervals by an
‘electric motor.
THE DAWSON NEWS
For High Grade Flour
—USE— -
White Crest Fluffy Ruffles
~ Plain Self-Rising
Southern Grocery Company
DAWSON, GA. Wholesale Distributors DAWSON, GA.
BIECAUSE a good many were un
able to spare their teams to haul
them, we will continue our price of
£ 10 Per Ton
, on
- Through Saturday, Sept. 12th.
- They are going fast—
~ Better haul yours early!
Dawson Cotton Oil Co.
—== A Home Industry =— -
TUESDAY, SEPT. 8, 1925