Hollinger Corp. 
 pH8.5 
 
SB 959 
 .R38 
 Copy 1 
 
 The Use of the Gasoline Torch 
 in Fighting Insects and Fungi 
 
 Copyright, I9I3, byFRED REINLEIN. Susanville, California 
 
 Circular No. I39 November 16, 1913 
 
 On pii^e 5 of my Circular No. 138 the claim is made that 1 
 know of a practical way to stop the Argentine ant from nur- 
 sing scale insects and plant lice on growing crops, and to con- 
 trol them when they become a nuisance by insisting to live and 
 multiply in some such place as a hollow tree near a hou.>e. 
 
 The answer is, I would apply heat under pressure as gener- 
 ated by a gasoline torch. 
 
 As near as I was ever able to learn, I was the first to use a 
 gasoline torch as a means of insect control. 
 
 And as near as I was ever able to learn, I was the first to 
 describe such use of a gasoline torch as a means of insect con- 
 trol. 
 
 I first used a gasoline torch for insect control in the fall of 
 1896. I vras engaged at that time at Mt. Vernon, 111. in the 
 growing, among other things, of plants of the cabbage tribe. 
 The rainfall for several years previous to 1896 had been great- 
 ly below normal, while the temperature was above normal. One 
 of the results was that the harlequin cabbage bug worked its 
 way from the South up id and beyond Central Illinois; also the 
 chinch bugs became very destructive to corn. 
 
 Being unable to find a satisfactory way of controlling the 
 harlequin bug I at last hi-: upon using a gasoline torch such as 
 is used ti great deal by painters and plumbers and found that 
 when used while the plants are in fresh condition, as in the 
 morning, they stand enough heat to allow of the destruction of 
 tlie bugs without suffering materially themselves. 
 
I realized that such us.3 of heat under pressure is indefinite!}^ 
 cheaper and in many cases more practicable than the use of the 
 sprays that were then advocated for the control of insects not 
 amendable to the use of poison. 
 
 Thus leing directly interested in the control of some such 
 insects cmd realizing the possibility for the country .if large, 1 
 went to work in the spring of 1907 to test the use of heat thus 
 supplied on insects affecting various crops. 
 
 As the chinch bug was then very troublesome, corn received 
 due attention. It was found that during cool spells all or most 
 of the bugs would hide under the clods around the base cf the 
 plaTits, but by letting the blast from the torch play about the 
 base of the lowest leaves it was found that they would come 
 tumblin.9- out from the top of the leaf-sheaths and come in 
 much gi'cater number from under the clods. 
 
 Now if a torch has such an effect upon insects hidden under 
 clods, wiiat must you expect if you let such a blast blow upon 
 a nest oi Argentine ants when the ant chooses as far as possible 
 
 decomposing vegetable matter. " In summer time the 
 
 ants apiear to do as little excavating as possible and seem to 
 limit their efforts to excluding light or water, etc." (Ent. Pull. 
 No. 122. p. 56). '^In wet situations or after heavy rains when 
 the ground has become soaked with water the ants construct 
 curiotis honey combed structures around the bases of tree 
 
 trunks falling in at the slightest touch the 
 
 loose construction permitting a liberal circulation of air 
 through the walls and ceilings." (p. 56). 
 
 On the other hand: ''In case of danger the workers' first in- 
 stinct appears to be to remove the young (eggs, larvae, pupae) 
 to a place of safety and they readily sacrifice their own lives in 
 order to accomplish this" (p. 40). 
 
 Thus imagine the blast from a torch blow upon such a pile 
 and the queens and workers all coming out, the latter loaded 
 
 '(g.CI.A351)157 
 
SB ^59 
 
 with young and exposed at close range to the blast emerging 
 from the burner. It necessarily means annihilation of the whole 
 outfit. 
 
 As to danger from fire : The country infested with New Or- 
 leans as a starting point lias as per table 1, Ent. Bull. No. 122, 
 a mean anrual precipitation of 54.9 inches. In such a country 
 there is always enough growing vegetation to render fires over 
 large areas next to impossible, except perhaps in the fall at the 
 time of the falling of leaves. But in California where the ant is 
 also present, in smaJler numbers, the precipitation is only 16.2 
 inches, just one-third. And the rain comes mostly during the 
 cool season. The drying up of vegetation begins in June. Hence 
 the fight must be done during the moist season and the time 
 for using the torch would be a question for the legislature to 
 consider and regulate. 
 
 During my tests in 1907 I found that if sweet corn is planted 
 near cruciferous plants infested with the harlequin bug, manv 
 adults I'y to it when it is tasseling and feed on the pollen dur- 
 ing the warm part of the day. And I found that if you attempt 
 to then kill them with a blast from the torch they will f^y ofiF, 
 although part of them arc likely to be sIoav enough to permit 
 of scorching them Now, of course, there is no need for a torch 
 in this case, since it is easy to pick them off and throw them into 
 a can with water and a little kerosene, and this, moreover, 
 kaves YiO bad effects upon the pollen. Thus by planting at fre- 
 quent intervalls some hills of sweet corn near where crucifer- 
 ous plants are to be grown, at least a large part of the adults 
 can be secured throughout the season without the use of an in- 
 secticide at all. 
 
 But the effect of a blast upon harlequin bugs thus exposed 
 serves as an additional illustration of how insects capable of 
 considerable locomotion get a move on themselves as they feel 
 the heat waves approach. This effect of the torch is of great 
 
4 
 value in the ease of an insect like the boll weevil that emerges 
 during a long period and which it may be desirable to pick off 
 of the plants. 
 
 The bollweevil usually drops off of the plant when it is dis- 
 turbed. And since T know that the heat vibrations from a torch 
 have a much more powerful effect than mere jarring in the case 
 of the chinch bug and harlequin bug and in fact of all insects 
 capable of ready locomotion, I don't see why it should not in 
 the same manner affect the weevil. 
 
 Because of this I had in my Circular No. 18, June 1904 advis- 
 ed to use a torch, but this point was never investigated by the 
 Bureau of Entomology. 
 
 At any rate it was then a secondary matter. The main ques- 
 tion was whether traprov/s could be employed. The answer to 
 that is yes and no, just what you understand under traprows 
 and how you intend to manage them. If you examine the 
 edge of the field daily for weevils as soon after as squares begin 
 to set, this edge will serve as traprows and the reasons why this 
 is a success you will find on page 7 of my Circular No. 
 137 and you also find there and on page 2 of my Cir- 
 cular No. 135 the reason:-; why any other use of traprows must 
 be a failure. The Bureau of Entomology says nothing. 
 
 As the case now stands, the securing of hibernated adults 
 whenever such is necessary or advisable, practicable at all 
 only, a( cording to my claims, by a daily examination of the 
 edge of the field for the rest of the period of emergence — a 
 period of from 3 to 5 weeks — can be simplified by the use of a 
 torch as by going along the edge of the field enough heat waves 
 can be blown along the rows at a distance from the plants to 
 not affect them at all unfavorably to make the weevils drop 
 and thus l:e readily noticed when by holding the burner close 
 up to them for about 2 to 3 seconds this w^ill kill them. But this 
 use of K torch is r.ot an essential future of control. The essential 
 
5 
 point described in detail May 18th 1912, in my Circular No. 127, 
 p. 4 is that while weevils when no squares are present settle up- 
 on the first cotton they come to, which with the field cleared by 
 fi plowing during the winter is the edge of the field, and then 
 move only 0.35 foot per day, they with the advent of squares, 
 begin feeding upon them exclusively and the males then will 
 feed on the average upon one square for two days, while the 
 females require a. least 5 times that many, that is, 8 per day. 
 After thus feeding for 4 days upon squares the female is ready 
 to oviposit, laying on the average 5 eggs per day, using a 
 square for each, this being exclusive of what squares they re- 
 quire for feeding. Thus as every search for each additional 
 square necessarily brings them further away from the edge of 
 the field it becomes clear that successful control requires that 
 their feeding upon squares must be stopped as soon as practi- 
 cable after arrival and that, in order to reduce the movement, 
 and consequently the work of examining, to the minimum it is 
 necessary to keep the squares at the edge as near as possible 
 free of feeding punctures and as this can only be done by se- 
 curing the weevils as soon after arrival as practicable it means 
 that the edge of the field must be examined for arriving 
 weevils daily till emergence is over, absolutely so or nearly so, 
 as may seem best in practice. 
 
 If the Bureau of Entomology can figure it out some other 
 way, let them do it. 
 
 I found in 1897 that in holding the troch up to most egg- 
 clusters such as of the harlequin bug on cabbage or of the 
 squash bug on squash for about 2 to 3 seconds they get usually 
 destroyed as far as hatching is concerned, and this amount of 
 heat does little or no damage to the leaves especially when 
 used in the morning whib,' dew is on the plants. The thin, 
 fragile leaves of plants of the cucumber tribe will be found to 
 stand an astonishing amount of heat without injury. Then, 
 
again, Avhenever egg clusters like these were allowed to hatch, 
 the young will stay together for some time and it takes but 
 little of the blast to kill them, which is much faster than could 
 be done by hand. If you will lift a cucumber or squash vine, 
 big or small, carefully, for they do not like to be handled at all, 
 and you let the blast blow upon the ground just uncovered you 
 will be surprised at the great number of insects you usually 
 find there and these can be killed at close range while thus on 
 the ground. 
 
 In handling plantlice, such as the cabbage or melon louse, 
 the thing to do is to begin while infestation is slight and go 
 along the rows at a slow pace, preferably in the morning, let- 
 ting the blast blow onto the underside of the leaves, going up 
 first one side of the row then down the other. This, repeated as 
 may be necessary, will keep the pests in check without injur- 
 ing the plants. 
 
 Some leaf eating insects, as for instance blister beetles, are 
 not readily killed by poison and work in numbers together. 
 Such I have found can usually be succesfully handled with a 
 torch. 
 
 By 1897 the San Jose Scale was getting a foothold in Illinois. 
 I realized that such use ot heat ought to be of value in control- 
 ling this insect and prove to be the cheapest means. Thus in the 
 fall of 1897 I went to an infested orchard and made a test. 
 
 And after getting a favorable report in the spring of 1898 I 
 published my first book on the Use of the Gasoline Torch in 
 Fighting Insects. 
 
 About three months after this I happened to notice in one 
 of the hardware stores at Mt. Vernon, 111. a gasoline torch bear- 
 ing a label reading: Winfree Bug Exterminator. 
 
 Now, after due reflection, I concluded that the term Bug Ex 
 terminator when affixed to a gasoline torch was telling in one 
 word the essence of what I had published on the use of the 
 
gasoline torch in fighting insects and was an infringment on 
 my copyrighted matter^ unless that word was used on such 
 torches before I secured my copyright. 
 
 ]\Ir. Winfree — eT. M. Winfree, Nashville, 111. — according to 
 a statement made to me in 1898 in writing, first used the 
 torch in 1897 in an effort to control the chinch bug. He seemed 
 to be backed by a concern interested in the making and selling 
 of torches and some effort was made on his part to have me sell 
 ^y copyright to him, but by that time I had already realized 
 that the common plumbers torch is not the best type for that 
 work, and that altogether the possibilities for the use of heat 
 thus generated were greater than Mr. Winfree could see, hence 
 notl ing was accomplished. 
 
 I had realized that in using a common torch the operator has 
 to sway the w^hole thing about, while, of course, only the burn- 
 er was what really needed swaying. Then again when working 
 on low plants the operator had to work in a stooping position. 
 This suggested to me the need for a torch of the knapsack 
 type. Moreover, as this torch was to be used also upon trees 
 wherever there was any use for it, some arrangement had to be 
 made that it might be suspended upon trees and be in a coui- 
 pact form when being moved from branch to branch. 
 
 At that time the browntail moth was making great headway 
 in New England and since the most effective means of control 
 then consisted in the cutting off, during winter, by means of 
 pole shears, of the webs located usually at the ends of 
 the branches, on trees of greatest hight as well as on smaller 
 ones, I was satisfied that the use of such torch would be bet- 
 ter all around. 
 
 The torch also appeared to me to be of value in the case of 
 a shade tree insect attacking fruit trees like the tussock moth 
 the larvae of which are not readily controlled by poison and 
 that deposits its cocoons largely in colonies and where the re- 
 
8 
 
 suiting females may, as they do in the ease of the tussoek moth, 
 move but little from that place to deposit their eggs, since sub- 
 jecting either the cocoons, or the adult females, which in the 
 case of the tussock moth are wingless, or the resulting egg- 
 masses to as much of a hot air blast as can be borne by that par- 
 ticular part of the tree, once or repeated as may be necessary, 
 must be detrimental to the insect. 
 
 Also by that time I had realized, and published in various 
 circulars, that heat thus applied licks off the fungus spores, 
 the claim resting upon the fact that when the blast is applied 
 when there is little or no sunlight, little particles upon the leaf 
 can be seen to light up, and that it can be clearly seen during 
 the day that leaves bearing masses of spores can be freed oi 
 these. 
 
 This finally resulted in the getting out on my part of a 
 torch I began to make applications for Patent for in 1900 and 
 had finally issue under No. 739,221, Sept. 15th, 1903. Its special 
 features consist in that the pump is located in the center of the 
 tank, the piston of the pump is worked by a handle having the 
 shape of a hook, and this piston can be locked against move- 
 ment by means of a pin, so that the torch can be suspended by 
 means of the hook. A spur was provided on that hook to fur- 
 nish a means of supporting the burner while the apparatus is 
 being moved from branch to branch. fSee last pao^e.) 
 
 A good many difficulties had to be overcome before satisfac- 
 tory work could be secured from the apparatus. A tank of 
 about two gallons was found to be handiest. To use the torch 
 the tank is filled about one-third full of gasoline, the rest is left 
 for compressed air. 
 
 About that time a party in Missouri advertised a torch for 
 trapping insects at night. The apparatus consisted, in effect, ot 
 a pan containing water and some kerosene, upon which sat at 
 right angles to each other two sheets of tin cut out at the junc- 
 
9 
 don so that a common kerosene torch of the 10c type could 
 burn. The sheets of tin were to serve the purpose of more reac^- 
 ily leading the insects to the flame to increase their chances of 
 getting so injured that they might fall into the kerosene be- 
 low. 
 
 Since the claims for that apparatus were extravagant th« 
 Cornell University, of Ithacca, N. Y. took the maiter up, chief'y 
 because they had years before made tests with a trap lanterii, 
 that is, a common lantern set upon a brick or bricks in a pan ol 
 water, with kerosene. 
 
 They found that they had caught practically the same run of 
 insects with their lantern as they did with the Missouri torch, 
 except that in the case of lacewinged insects, the torch showed 
 a much greater number of insects caught. They found they had 
 caught nothing worth while, the injurious insects being offset 
 by beneficial and neutral ones, the only thing worth mention- 
 ing being adults of the tent caterpillar, of which the specimens 
 caught were all or mostly males. 
 
 They, therefore, concluded that the use of traplights is of no 
 value in a general way, but might be of value in the case of an 
 injurious winged adult occurring in great numbers, flying only 
 during a well defined and rather short period, and were both 
 males and females are strongly attracted to light. 
 
 Now, there was at the outset anyway one insect that did 
 fill the bill, to my knowledge. It was the browntail moth. 
 
 In as much as a gasoline torch generates a heat of about 
 1500 edgrees and because of it, shows at night the burner to be 
 red hot and gives off a yellowish flame in the shape of a blast, 
 I realized that such a torch would be immensely more danger- 
 ous than could be either a kerosene torch or a trap lantern. 
 
 The fact that the Cornell people caught about the same kind 
 of insects with the lantern as well as with the torch would tend 
 to prove that the insects caught were not injured by any heat, 
 
lO 
 
 but simply settled down upon the kerosene for a rest. And the 
 exception in the ease of the lacewings, of whien about 3000 
 more were caught wuth the torch, tends to prove that this was 
 due to an injury to their delicate wings by the flame of the 
 torch, the heat not being strong enough to injure the other in- 
 sects more than would tht globe of a traplantern. 
 
 Since the Missouri party credited his torch with catching 
 codling moths the Cornell people paid close attention to what 
 they caught of this insect and I believe they caught only two, 
 by the combined and independent use of traplantern and torch. 
 Another official entomologist, in Nebraska, I believe, caught 
 with the Missouri torch 7 or 9 in one season. The Missouri man 
 contended the codling moths are attracted to light and the 
 Cornell people quoted Prof. E. D. Sanderson while he was with 
 the Maryland Experiment Station as stating that he had lib- 
 erated codling moths in a, room lighted by a Rochester lamp 
 and they flew around the lamp once or twice then retired to 
 some corner and never came back. From this and from the 
 statements of other investigators to the same effect Prof. Slin- 
 gerland, who did the work, concluded the codling moth is not 
 attracted to light. 
 
 Now, that is manifestly true as far as it goes. But I, rather 
 accidently, can add the other half to the story. About May 
 22nd, 1904 I was working at Mt. Vernon, 111. at about 9 p. m. 
 on a desk near a window in the corner of a room having no 
 screens and used a kerosene lamp that threw a good strong 
 light upon my work sirct^ it had a common lamp shade of stiff 
 paper, the rest of the room being nearly dark. Suddenly a moth 
 flew in and began to fly about in a rapid zick-zack fashion 
 within the lighted area tor several seconds, then flew aw^ay. 
 This at once reminded me of the description of the codling 
 liioth flight as given in the Bulletin of the Cornell University 
 on this insect, but at the {^am# time I recalled that all the Doc- 
 
1 r 
 
 tors had agreed that this moth is not attracted to light and as 
 its flight was unusually rapid I did not feel inclined to attempt 
 to catch it. However, when it came back the third time I con- 
 cluded I had best try to get rid of it, and since it might be a 
 codling "aoth, I was careful and accidently secured it in perfect 
 condition. It was a codling moth. No mistake. I had raised cod- 
 ling moths from wormy apples and knew the insect. Then, fui- 
 ther, I saved the specimen and had not long after a chance to 
 show it to the Assistant of the State Entomologist of Illinois. 
 He said it was a codling moth. However, try it yourself. 
 
 Now, the cause — and there is always a cause — that Prof. 
 Sanderson's moths did not hover about the light was, as near 
 as I can see, that there was but little more light next to tfi.3 
 w^hite opaque globe that constitutes part of a Rochester lamp — 
 to my knowledge — than there was away from it, while in my 
 case the light was all confined to a small space. 
 
 The codling moth emerges during a long period in the 
 spring. Then about 80 per cent of the worms try to enter at the 
 calyx end of the young apple, which if it has previously been 
 filled with arsenic by means of a spray, is as far as they go. 
 Then, again, the second brood overlaps with the first. However, 
 as the second brood cannot be handled with poison, the use of 
 a suitable torch might prove to be of decided value in years 
 when codling moths appear to be plentiful, if it is used occa^ 
 sionally during the early part of a quiet, warm and dark 
 night away from any other lights. 
 
 The first time I used a gasoline torch for trapping insects 
 was by letting the burner of a knapsack torch rest upon the 
 edge of a galvanized iron washtub containing water with kero- 
 sene, the gasoline tank standing on the ground. After running 
 about 2 hours I had about 1500 insects which were sent to 
 Washington. Entomologist Howard had them examined. They 
 
12 
 
 proved to be mostly ground beetles — beneficial insects — not 
 what was wanted. 
 
 In using a torch as thus described the gasoline supply is at a 
 lower level than the burner. When the air pressure gets low, 
 as it will when it is expected to run itself without attention, 
 .he flow of gasoline becomes intermittent and the flame goes 
 out ard the remaining gasoline is going to waste through th«- 
 burner. 
 
 To avoid this I suspended the tank amply high to not only 
 allow of the burner to hang cl,own, but to be then yet elevated 
 from the ground as high as might be desired which with me 
 usually was 3 to 5 feet. 
 
 It was found that under this arrangement there was always 
 enough gravity pressure to secure a steady flow of gasoline till 
 all was used up. A galvanized pail containing water with kero- 
 sene was hung onto the burner and as this did put altogether 
 too much strain on the hose that connects the pipe carrying the 
 burner with the tank, the pipe was at its upper end caught 
 with a cord and the cord tied up at a length shorter than the 
 hose, thus giving the required slack. 
 
 It soon became apparent that as far as catching qualities 
 were concerned, this arrangement came pretty near being per- 
 fection. 
 
 Such a torch does not make a bright light. This in a way, 
 is a disadvantage, since I lie light is seen over a smaller radius 
 then is either that from a kerosene torch or a traplantern. On 
 the other hand the insects that do fly to it cannot in the dark- 
 ness about it correctly estimate the distance they are as yet 
 away when making for it and they practically all bump their 
 heads against the red hot burner or fly into the hot air blast 
 blowing downwards into the pail. The rim of the pail is, or can 
 be arranged to hang, about 2 or 3 inches below the mouth of 
 the burner. The sides of the pail are much too hot for any in- 
 
13 
 sect if uot at once completely stunned to get a hold on it. How- 
 ever, observations seem to indicate that some of the stronger 
 and hardier beetles and, maybe, moths are not so stunned and 
 often escape. 
 
 May beetles are a good sample of this class. These beetles 
 when plentiful do great damage. It may be that the females do 
 a great deal less flying than the males after they become heavy 
 with eggs, but it is certain that light has attraction to them 
 and there does not seem to be any reason why they should not 
 before egg laying is well under way fly about as much as the 
 males. In a general way both as beetles and grubs they are hard 
 to get rid of economically, hence in this and all similar cases 
 light trapping ought to be used for all it can be made to do. 
 
 It would be quite feasible to take a disk of tin of the size ot 
 the pail, cut out a slot and then fit it in the shape of a low cone 
 similar to a lamp shade just above the burner. This would 
 leave a circle of light of about 4 inches for the insects through 
 w^hich to enter, while, once inside, the chances of ever getting 
 out are very slim. 
 
 My tests in orchards showed a large variety of insects and in 
 the truck garden there was noticed a good mixture of cucum- 
 ber beetles and one catch with the torch hung up among a row 
 of young elm trees about 25 feet high contained an elm tree 
 borer, also one catch examined by Prof. Slingerland was re- 
 ported to show a good many leaf hoppers, but on the whole 
 there w^as no noticeable catch of any important insect in quan- 
 tity and the reason was there was no important insect about 
 m quantity, nor could I devote as much time and money to 
 carry on tests in different locations as I was willing to do. 
 
 I had fully realized by 1903 and stated so in one of the 16 
 circulars I published between 1898 and 1903 that this appara- 
 tus was sure to catch lar<2:e quantities of browntail moths, as 
 
H 
 
 large catches then went, if, of course, located away froni the 
 electric lights. How to gel. rid of those and of other insects that 
 stay within he influence of the electric lights is an independent 
 problem. The browntail moth is on the wii.g, at its best, for 2 to 
 i weeks and both male and female are strong flyers. The Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture had bought a torch at that time, but they 
 neither gave the involved system a fair trial during the day nor 
 at niglit. On the whole, they condemned it. 
 
 Take the case of the nnt weevils. At present, to my know- 
 ledge, the chiefmeans of control recommended is the destruc- 
 tion of the infested fallen fruits. Now, to my knowledge, most 
 or all of these weevils are single brooded, the females are good 
 flyers as else they could not oviposit their eggs to advantage 
 and they have a well defined flying season. Why should not the 
 torch be of value against the related apple and plum curculios, 
 and, in a general way, against all night flying curculios affect- 
 ing the various crops, since the use of poison is on the wholo 
 out of question against this class of insects as is, practically, 
 the use of contact insecticides. 
 
 Take the case of the elm tree borer. Their preferred feeding 
 places are old or maturing elm groves. Why should a torch 
 there not work to advantage? The same holds good with the 
 hickory bark beetle. 
 
 Take the case of the pine destroying beetles : for all I know 
 they are good flyers and they would be probably attracted to 
 light. If so it ought to be possible to destroy enough of them by 
 trapping to make unnecessary, to a large degree at least, the 
 premature felling of trees affected by them. 
 
 The larch worm, according to Entomology Circular No. 125, 
 p. 3 "has killed during several extensive outbreaks since 1880, 
 from 50 to 100 per cent of the mature larch over vast areas in 
 the north eastern United States and southeastern Canada". . . . 
 
15 
 damage: ''many billions of feet." Most likely the female adult 
 is a good flyer and attracted to light. 
 
 In a general way these timber insects are good flyers and 
 more likely to be attracted to light as not. The present chiet 
 means of control is the felling and working up of the infested 
 trees, many of which, if the attack could be reduced in severity, 
 could be allowed to grow to maturity. 
 
 The larvae of the hawk moths and cut worms are often very 
 numerous and destructive. The adults, of the cut worm 
 at leasr., are attracted to light, and light trapping with a cor- 
 rect type of torch ought to be of at least some value. In my 
 tests I caught a good many cut worm moths. Again, the mere 
 ascertaining as to whether many or few such moths, or of May 
 beetles, are around is of value, as this permits of taking ceriain 
 precautions by w^hich if moths or beetles were plentiful, the 
 damage from the resulting larvae, due to appear later, can be 
 reduced. 
 
 In the case of the Argentine ant: *'An enormous and general 
 flight of males and virgin queens was observed at Baton Rouge, 
 La., in the spring of 1908 when large numbers of both sexes 
 were captured in butterfly nets. On the other hand, during the 
 spring of 1910 and that of 1911 no general flight was observed 
 
 Considerable numbers of males were seen flying around 
 
 the city electric lights but no queens were found with 
 
 them " (Ent. Bull. No. 122, p. 48). It would seem from the 
 
 above that when the males and virgin queens do fly, part of 
 them at least could be attracted to a traptorch. Unless a queen 
 is thus destroyed soon after becoming adult and before she ha? 
 commenced egglaying and shed her wings she is likely to live 
 several years and can re\er be fought with the torch when it is 
 used as a traplight. 
 
 On the other hand there is some tall use for a torch in other 
 
l6 
 
 respects : ' ' Many permanfint nests are located in the tops of 
 trees, in rotten branches, or in places where borers or termites 
 have been working" (Ent. Bull. No. 122, p. 5G). Whtm in the 
 past you found nests ''within hollow trees, beneath the rough 
 bark of growing trees, in forks of trees" (p. 55) you have not 
 known of a practical remedy. A hot air blast from a torch is the 
 only feasible thing, at least at present, and the torch ought to 
 be of a type as was designed by me for work in trees. 
 
 Where the nests of thjs kind are permanent, in the sense of 
 being perennial, some cold morning during the winter would 
 be an especially good time for attack as then any ants falling 
 off would freeze up. 
 
 Incidentally the torch is the best thing to set fire to the win- 
 ter trap piles described in my Circular No. 138. 
 
 When dt comes to handling ants on growing crops you are 
 killing two birds with one stone by using a torch. The aim, of 
 course, is to apply heat enough to so injure the insects — the 
 ants as well as their hosts, the scale and plant louse insects — 
 as to finally succumb to one or more applications without ma- 
 terially injuring the plant. Ants subjected to a blast while on 
 a plant will quickly drop off and are then killed on the ground. 
 
 On page 77 of Ent. Bull. No. 122 the authors point out that ex- 
 periments have shown that only about one per cent of workers 
 are normally out on foraging trails and that therefore the kill- 
 ing off of these ''does not materially affect the domestic 
 economy of the colony or retard the rate of increase " 
 
 Now according to my system of Argentine ant control as far 
 fs it is described in my Circular No. 138 the opportunity for 
 severest attack upon them consists in using winter trap piles 
 and if this results in keeping both the ants and the scale and 
 plant lice insects in check, nothing further need be done, but 
 if these scale and plant lice insects are numerous, due or not 
 due to any efforts on the part of the ants that may or may not 
 
17 
 
 be present, they have to be attended to and there is to my 
 knowledge, during the growing season, all kinds of insects con- 
 sidered nothing more practicable than the judicious use of a 
 hot air blast ; and if ants are present, they get their dose of 
 Piedicine along with the rest. This would soon lead to a severe 
 decrease in the number of workers. -■■.:-<,■; 
 
 It is quite likely that the usual rate of about 99 per cent of 
 workers remaining in the nest is conducive for securing the 
 best results and that any disturbance of this ratio has a ten- 
 dency to make the queens join the foraging workers. ''Queens 
 will frequently leave the nests with the workers. Ten queens^ 
 'egg laying machines', the business end of the colony— 
 v.-ere collected dn 30 minutes from a large trail of workers at 
 New Orleans during January 1911. These were quite remote 
 from the nearest nest. ' ' Thus with the foraging detachment con- 
 stantly cut down, queens are likely to go after a dose of medi- 
 cine themselves. The thing to do is to let the blast blow along 
 the trail. 
 
 The use of poison in the control of leaf eating insects is in a 
 great many cases not practicable. The larvae of the canker- 
 vorm, the tussock moth, the browntail moth and the gipsy 
 moth for instance can partake of considerable poison before 
 they succumb. Of the California tussock moth for instance you 
 may read in Bulletin No. 183 of the California Experiment 
 
 Station on page 203 " in laboratory experiments when 
 
 the foliage was thoroughly covered with arsenate of lead ap- 
 plied at a dilution of 3 to 6 pounds to 50 gallons of water and 
 newly hatched larvae were placed upon it, the majority of 
 them died from arsenical poisoning, but even then some surviv- 
 ed and only succumbed after prolonged exposure to thoroughly 
 poisoned leaves. Slightly older insects were found to be ex- 
 tremely resistant; some survived four weeks when their only 
 food was leaves literallv whitewashed with arsenate of lead. . " 
 
i8 
 
 Then, again, many, probably most of these insects do not 
 hatch all at nearly the same time and as many of them feed on 
 the top of timber trees no spray could well be applied and the 
 spraying, if attempted, would usually have to be done in the 
 spring when new foliage is constantly growing and rains are 
 frequent. Then again wiiile beetles as a whole may do great 
 damage and are not readily affected by poison, this holds good 
 in an especial manner in the case of snout beetles, such as the 
 plum curculio and bollweevil, as these feed chiefly by lacerat- 
 ing the surface of the leaf or young fruit and feeding upon the 
 tissues below. 
 
 If valuable trees, as for instance fruit trees, are affected with 
 the larvae of the tussock moth or with the spring canker worm 
 a moderate application of heat from a torch would make 
 these insects drop, and would incidentally more or less injure 
 them. This application of heat would incidentally be also suffi- 
 cient to lick oft* all or at least most of the fungus spores present 
 also w^ould affect any scale insects or lice that raay be present 
 and that would not be affected at all by an arsenical mixture. 
 
 Or take the case oi the pear tlrips a!':eelirig various fruit 
 trees and infesting the best fruit lands east of San Francisco. 
 The adults emerge from the ground by the end of Febi'iiarv 
 and during early March, force their way into the fruit bud, a.^ 
 soon as this is possible and feed upon the tenderest portions 
 within. Eggs are deposited "just under the epidermis in t^e 
 fruit stems, young fruit and leaf stems" (Ent. Circ. No. 131, p. 
 5) hence cannot be attacked in anyway. But the larvae are on 
 the trees in maximum numbers ' ' from April 1st to 15th ' ' an 
 ideal time, in that climate, for any larvae to put in some busy 
 days. The chief reliance to control the pear thrips is at present 
 a ''combination of distillate oil emulsion and the nicotine solu- 
 tion" (p. 8). The spray is admittedly expensive, the work has 
 to be done w^ith a power outfit giving a pressure of 150 to 200 
 
19 
 
 pounds and as the thrips may destroy all prospect of a crop in 
 less than a week's time the use of the outfit is short. ''Only 
 arglenozzles should be employed and these must be held close to 
 the bud clusters to force the spray directly into the ends of the 
 buds. This is absolutely necessary to secure good penetration 
 
 and get satisfactory results " (p. 20). Then why should 
 
 not the use of heat, applied if necessary in the morning, destroy 
 these adult thrips since they would be made to move about and 
 the tender portions upon which they feed need not be subjected 
 to a dangerous degree of heat? And why should it not destroy 
 a little later the larvae 1 
 
 Suppose some iiissoek moth or canker worm larvae are pres- 
 ent also. These upon feeling the blast would drop off before be- 
 coming fatally injured, which may hold good also with the 
 thrips larvae, but usually all these larvae readily find their 
 way back to the trunk, or else perish from lack of their food 
 suppl5^ As a means of following up the fight, soil should be 
 ridged up against the trunk, drawn up from a circle of about 
 o feet diameter with the periphery of this circle marked by a 
 steep edge. The larvae will then drop in and as their ascent will 
 be difficult and can bemade impossible altogether, they can l)e 
 killed there by a blast from the torch. 
 
 This course is practicable in the case of larvae of the brown- 
 tail moth and many other moths. The larvae of the gipsy moth 
 feed at night and descend on the trunk in the morning. If this 
 same course is followed and the ridging is done roughly they 
 wdll hide under the clods, this being their only choice as they 
 could not climb the steep wall at the periphery of the circle 
 and the application of a sharp heat blowing into the clods dur- 
 ing the day will dispose of them. 
 
 Take the insects affecting the citrus fruits. AVhile the hcalc in- 
 sects can be kept in check by fumigation, the mealy bug, red 
 
2D 
 
 spiders, mites and the white fly are but little affected by it, 
 while the use of heat controls all of them at the same time. 
 
 The most important enemies of the hop plant are lice and 
 red spiders. These can be easily controlled by the use of heat, 
 if the work is started early as it should be with any remedy in 
 such cases. 
 
 The cotton stainer, at present, is the most important enemy 
 of the cotton in Florida (Ent. Circ. No. 149. p. 1). Its life his- 
 tory and habits are similiar to that of the harlequin bug. It is 
 easiest handled with the torch once it is inside the field 
 
 The i^rapevine has several important insect and fungus 
 enemies. The insect eneniies show a great variation in habits. 
 Then, again, the fungus diseases require fighting in most cases. 
 Jn the early spring the flea beetle may be there to feed upon 
 the buds of the vine, eating them entirely away, or eating out 
 the centers. It is obvious, then, that because of this burrowing 
 habit control by poison cannot be very satisfactory. If it is at- 
 tempted at all, the best way to use it is to literally paint the 
 buds with a thin paste of the poison mixture. The beetles are 
 easily jarred from the vines and if you let a blast blow along 
 the row they drop without jarring and can be killed by a blast 
 close at hand on the ground. Using a blast thus slightly would 
 lick off the fungus spores that will be present. By the time the 
 vines have developed any leaves the grapevine hoppers, having 
 passed the winter as adults, are ready to feed upon them. My 
 tests showed me that this insect is amenable to treatment by 
 the use of the torch. The.^e hibernated adults should be gotten 
 rid of before they start egg laying. This can be best done by 
 applying the blast daring cool spells or in the morning Avhen 
 they are liable to be huddled together on the underside of the 
 leaves. If this is neglected or only partly carried out, the work 
 should be kept up while the resulting young have not yet ac- 
 quired wings to any great extent as then their control becomes 
 
21 
 
 correspondingly more difficult. If the torch is used, however, 
 this use of heat has always a tendency to lick the leaves clean 
 of spores and also make such beetles as may be present, such as 
 the adults of the graperoot worm or the click beetles, which are 
 the adults of the wire worms, or of leaf chafers drop off the 
 plant and thus be noticed and killed. Then, again, rather late 
 in the season near when the grapes begin to ripen, the second 
 brood of the grape leaf folder is apt to appear in large num- 
 bers. Of the old methods of control the spraying of the leaves 
 with poison before the worms hatch is the only means that has 
 a chance of success, except, of course, crushing the larvae by 
 hand later. The adult is a moth, probably night flying and at- 
 tracted to light. The grape leaf hoppers seem to be also attract- 
 ed to light to a limited extent, hence tests should be made as to 
 what can be done with the trap torch to control these and other 
 pests while in the adult stage. 
 
 A good illustration of how the means of insect control at 
 present advocated by the Bureau of Entomology become im- 
 practicable when it comes to low priced crops — forest, cereal 
 or forage — is given by the account of the ravages of the New 
 Mexico range caterpillar in Entomology Bulletin No. 85, part 
 V. As to means of control the writer says on page 95 that the 
 chief difficulty in applying remedial measures "is found in the 
 extremely small value per acre of the grass crop ' ' in these high 
 and dry regions ''lands rent for from 2 to 5 cents per acre for 
 the year's pasturage " (p. 95) with the land as now in- 
 fested by the worms, with ''the grass eaten to the very roots for 
 
 miles " and "the uneaten grass not relished by 
 
 stock " (p. 61). 
 
 ' ' This argument, which is a common one ' ', that is, is just as 
 apt to occur on other low priced cereal, forage or timber crops, 
 "puts an end to all mechanical means of control of this r)est 
 
22 
 
 (p. ^^) by whicL the author means "by expensive means" (p. 
 
 95.) " no ready relief is yet in sight" (p. 96). 
 
 The account sets forth that these caterpillars are the lar/ae 
 of moths that begin to emerge about October 1st. ' ' The great 
 majority of the Hemileuca moths emerge from the pupae early 
 
 in the morning " (p. 82). "The freshly emerged moths 
 
 remain perfectly quiet during the day " (p. 82). "About 
 
 4:30 in the afternoon the male moths begin to stir very 
 
 soon launches himself for his crepuscular flight ' ' and 
 
 *'the female rarely takes to wing before 5 p. m. She. . . . 
 
 , .sails off in a straight line many of the females fail to 
 
 mate where they emerge " (p. 83). "When fairly on the 
 
 wing the flight of the Hemileuca moths is strong and persis- 
 tent " (p. 84). "How far the females travel carrying 
 
 their eggs is largely a matter of conjecture, but as they fly at 
 
 the rate of 8 to 10 miles an hour there seems good reason 
 
 to believe that they traverse long distances before they alight. 
 The fluttering myriads of moths were present over very wide 
 areas Taking into account the fact that the life of the in- 
 dividual moth rarely if ever exceeds three days, the successive 
 
 multitudes constitute a menace that needs only to 
 
 be seen to be appreciated" (p. 85) "AVhen attracted to a light- 
 ed window at night the moths remain there " (p. 88) . . 
 
 multitudes of Hemileuca moths were flying about 
 
 the electric lights at Trinidad, Colo " (p. 62) which 
 
 tends to show, strongly, that light has a great deal of attrac- 
 tion to the moths. 
 
 Well, it is by the use of a trap torch chiefly that some ready 
 relief is coming into sight. There is no good reason why with a 
 torch hung up myriads of moths shciild i ot come witlin 
 its influence each night, although moonshine may act unfavor- 
 ably. There is no good reason why not at least a substantial 
 
23 
 
 percentage can be thus destroyed. Since "the males are much 
 more active than the females" (p. 84), more males than fe- 
 males must be expected to be caught. Catching males, especially 
 as they constitute about 3-5 of the total number, may seem to 
 le useless, but indications are that a male can serve only three 
 females during his life of three days, that is, is capable only of 
 tr:ating with one female in a night. If so the destruction of tne 
 males would not be useless, because many females would fail to 
 find mates and lay sterile eggs. Or with a scarcity of males 
 would do more flying. 
 
 "The usual time for depositing the eggs is in the early part 
 of the day " (p. 69). Hence a female must have been fly- 
 ing at least one night, and there is a probability that she does 
 not oviposit till after the second night. It is also not likely that 
 the females after ovipositing do much more flying. Hence a 
 torch will be practically always dangerous to them, and their 
 offspring, when on the wing, 
 
 A trap lantern hung up 5 feet from the ground on the plains 
 can be seen by a man standing high enough, say 10 feet, fo^ 
 probably considerably more than 5 miles. A traptorch, makinc: 
 less light, we will assume to show up for one mile. We will 
 assume that the Hemileuea moths can see as well as man Hlien 
 a trap torch would attract moths from a circle having a r.iduis 
 of a mile, or from about 2000 acres. From what is known we 
 may assume the males to travel 50 miles and the females 2) 
 miles a night, berce the moths within that circle of one 
 mile radius are always charging, that is, if all were caught by 
 the torch at a given time, the supply would be replenished 25 to 
 50 times respectively. 
 
 The cost of using a traptorch is not at all great, as a gallon of 
 gasoline would run about all night, the other expense is for the 
 apparatus and for the necessary attention which costs but 
 
24 
 
 liitle after the outfit is once going. And the benefit derived 
 would extend over many times the original 2000 acres, al- 
 though, of course, the further away, the less is the benefit. 
 
 AVith so much material to draw from, for experimental tests 
 water and kerosene in the bottom of the pail should be used 
 and the insects be frequently laddled out. In the case of 
 straight range work, however, the necessity of providing for a 
 supply of water and kerosene to fall into must be done away 
 ^vith, since with many moths falling in there would be soon a 
 layer of dead moths that would prevent the newcomers from 
 falling into the water and kerosene and thus might enable them 
 to fly out again. This trouble I would overcome by fixing at the 
 lop of the pail an inverted cone made out of tin, practically on 
 the same lines as the cover of a spittoon. A milkstrainer of 
 suitable size with the screen cut out will do. This, with the 
 blast blowing down into the hole, would prevent any escape, 
 and would also cremate the moths as fast as they accumulated 
 high enough and thus make the whole combination automatic. 
 
 There is no good reason why this arrangement should not 
 produce a benefit that would pay many times for the cost. 
 
 However, if investigations were to show that I am v/rong, 
 there is yet a very good chance to control the trouble with the 
 torch. This is by using a blast as the clusters of eggs are hatch- 
 ing and, further, when the larvae have grown some and are 
 clinging during the hot part of the day to some vegetation to 
 escape from the hot ground. On page 78 the author says that 
 larvae placed on such hot ground ''in some cases would die be- 
 fore moving an inch "' Thus between a lick from the 
 
 torch and the hot ground there is not much chance for survival. 
 
 The onion is the favorite food plant of the onioi> thi'ips. J>ut 
 this insect feeds readily upon many other cultivate 1 and iin'iil- 
 tivated plants. For control on the onion the Bureau of Ento- 
 
25 
 
 mology recommends nicotine— sulphate sprays. The thrips con- 
 ceal themselves a good deal between the sheaths of the onion 
 leaves, similar to the chinch bugs on corn. There are about 6 to 
 8 generations according to latitude. While young, these thrips 
 are easily affected by the nicotine — sulphate spray. But the use 
 of the torch affects all such ny:Mj)bs ^try readily and inciden- 
 tally brings out the adults from their hiding places. 
 
 When the onions get ripe or -ire ruined, the thi'i;)s look Tor 
 other food plants, plants of the cabbage and cucumber tribe be- 
 ing favorites. The Department of Agriculture advises not to 
 plant any of these plants near onions. But rhen they are needed 
 in any well regulated family and just the opposite should he 
 done, at least to a limited extent. E-wjuu^h of these crops 
 should be planted to attract the thrips leaving the onions and 
 the thrips being thus concentrated upon these plants can be 
 kept down by frequent slight lickings with the torch. These 
 slight lickings ^re usually necessary anyway to keep dov/n cer- 
 tain fungi affecting these plants. Late cucumbers suffer often 
 greatly from fungus and applications of both insecticides .^nd 
 fungicides are difficult, but the plants of the cucumber tribe 
 very readily take to treatment with the torch. 
 
 In as much as pearblight is spread through exudations on 
 infested trees that are being sucked up by insects and then 
 transferred into the sap of other trees by the piercing of the 
 skin by these insects, I suggested in 1903 to the Department of 
 Agriculture to make tests as to what would be the result, if 
 these exudations were, at suitable intervals, be licked over with 
 a flame from the torch. They said that it might be of some 
 value. However, nothing was done. 
 
 If the use of a torch should be shown to be of no value in 
 this case, I would consider that smearing the exudations over 
 with some such matter as air slacked lime, or a mixture of it 
 with clay, carbolated or otherwise made strongly disinfecting 
 
26 
 
 or not as tests may prove to be best, applied dry or, probably 
 more successfully, in pastef orm with a plasterer 's trowel, would 
 permit the tree to throw off the matter it wants to throw off, 
 but would not permit the insect to have access to it. Of course, 
 this paste after getting dry is quite liable to crack, due to 
 evaporation as well as due to the growth of the tree, but these 
 cracks it should be easy to fill up by dashing with a paste brush 
 or a suitable broom some more of the same stuff, in more liquid 
 form, over the stuff already on. 
 
 To thus prevent pearblight, or what is also called firehlight, 
 and control diseases of similar nature, work on covering up the 
 exudations or the spots where they are breaking out must 
 naturally be prompt for best results. Possibly a semi liquid 
 smear applied with a pastebrush will prove to be best. 
 
 And, well, so it goes on through all the crops. AVhile the old 
 standard remedies have their place, there are cases where be- 
 cause of ripening fruit they cannot well be employed even if 
 otherwise they be the most satisfactory for the insects and 
 rungi then present. 
 
 liuring 1902 and 1903 I spent a great deal of time and money 
 trying to introduce the lorch designed by me. Since its use in- 
 volved a new principle, I knew at the outset that success, as 
 rar as financial returns within a reasonable time were concern- 
 ea, was dependent upon what position the Official Entomologists 
 would take in regard to the use of heat thus applied. Being 
 green, I thought I had a good chance. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture reported that they had used 
 a torch on a cabbage heavily infested with lice, and with un- 
 satisfactory results. Well what else could they expect ?AVhat 
 else could they use and get beneficial results? The thing had 
 gone beyond control unless heat or some spray were used in 
 moderate stregth very often, which w^ould make control, with 
 the spray at least, improfitable. As a matter of fact, the De- 
 
partment recommended the picking off of infested leaves early 
 m the game and I had, for successful treatment, required that 
 the heat be allowed to play upon such leaves, or, rather, on all 
 the leaves and without discrimination unless a plant is noticed 
 to be heavily infested, and at an early stage, and as often as 
 may be necessary to control them well at an early stage. Nor 
 would they make any further tests, or let some commercial 
 grower try it for them. 
 
 But then the world moves. And the average farmer knows 
 a good thing when he sees it. Thus it comes that you lind in 
 Entomology Bulletin No. 95, part III. page 38, issued Decem- 
 ber 14th, 1911, treating on c'hinch bug investigations west of 
 the Missippi river, in regard to getting rid of chinch bugs after 
 they have entered a cornfield and collected on the first 2 or 3 
 rows, that they can be gotten rid of in two ways, "by applying 
 a gasoline torch and by spraying them with specially prepared 
 solutions. ' ' 
 
 ''The flaming torch is not altogether satisfactory on account 
 
 of the liability of damaging the plants generally one blast 
 
 will cause all the bugs to fall to the ground where they can be 
 
 barned several spraying materials can be used effecively 
 
 but most of these are injurious to the plants." 
 
 These sprays cost much more.With the torch only the out- 
 side of the lowest leafsheaths is affected and the plants grow 
 along practically unharmed. The injury froir. the sprays is 
 much more serious and much less easily overcome by the plant. 
 
 To prevent the bugs from reaching the cornfield as they mi- 
 grate from ripening small grain, dust barriers and coal tar 
 barriers are recommended. The chief objection to the first is 
 that ''often, during the migration , the bugs travel all night." 
 hence are liable to get to your corn while you take a nap since 
 this plan requires that the pulverizing "block must be k^^pt in 
 
28 
 
 constant use, from early until late and sometimes well into tne 
 night." The coal tar barrier is "apparently costly and trouble- 
 some", the chief dependence being a sure enough adequate sup- 
 ply of tar and freedom from dust, as this would require that 
 tJie line of tar be renewed ' ' quite often. ' ' As either plan is quite 
 likely to prove defective, it would seem best to rely on the 
 torch on the outset. 
 
 On pages 32 to 37 the authors point out that the chinch bugs 
 hibernate chiefly on clump-forming grasses growing on waste 
 land and in meadows and that burning these carefully over in 
 tlie fall kills about 80 per cent of the hibernating bugs, due to 
 the heat and subsequent exposure. But burning is wasteful. 
 Moreover as hibernated bugs readily fly great distances to And 
 a field of small grain in the spring, the work to be of ary no- 
 ticeable value must be done by all the farmers in a neighbor- 
 hood. Nature provided these dry tops for winter protection. 
 Their destruction in the fall has a tendency to kill these aseful 
 grasses out and have their place taken by weeds. Talk about 
 the high cost of living. These waste lands con Id be made to sun- 
 port many flocks of sheep. 
 
 Since the Bureau of Entomology advocated the burning of 
 the cottonstalks early in the fall — by about October 15th — Poi* 
 many years past as the chief means of controlling the bol' 
 weevil, I showed as long ago as in my Circular No. 32, 1905 that 
 according to the Department of Agricnlture ''the burning of 
 a wheat stubble deprives the land of as much fertility as the 
 producing of five crops of wheat." If this is so,, the loss, of 
 course, is not due to the little nitrogen that is in the stubble 
 itself, but is due chiefly to the liberating of nitrogen and burn- 
 ing of humus in the soil by the heat. 
 
 On page 27 of Bulletin No. 139 of the Mississippi Agricul- 
 tural Experiment Station you read : For controlling the boll- 
 
29 
 
 weevil "plow the stalks ap, then rake them into windrows and 
 
 as soon as they are dry burn them Do not allow the fire 
 
 to spread as the burning of plants of any kind is a very bad 
 practice. The soil is robbed of an immense amount of fertility 
 every year by the burning over of our lands in Mississippi. 
 Many good agricultural authorities even doubt the advisibility 
 of recommending the burning of the eottonstalks as they claim 
 that in time the burning off of this fertility will do more dam- 
 age than the bollweevil " 
 
 The long and the short of this dispute is just this : A system 
 of weevil control that allows of using only three-fifths of 
 the season, as is at present the case, is a very bad system . 
 
 If you have all the fields infested so as to practically produce 
 nothing by September 1st, sooner or later, it is undoubtedly 
 best to cut off the plants — all the plants in all the fields — 
 which is quite easily carried out, while plowing up is not at all 
 easily carried out. This stops further eggdeposition, but as 
 many larvae in infested squares and bolls would develop into 
 adults if the plants were thus left, they, in this case, should be 
 burned as there is no other practical way to dispose of the in- 
 fested squares and bolls. 
 
 Cutting off the plants along these lines, originally pointed 
 out in my Circular No. 134, p. 4, answers every practical pur- 
 pose. If the soil, during cultivation, has been thrown towards 
 the plants rather than away from them, there will be few or no 
 sprouts. But if there are, there is nothing to show that the mere 
 feeding, even on squares, prolongs the life of the adults to any 
 great extent, if they, in the absence of food, can select shelter 
 at will. And no egg ever laid in a square produced on such a 
 sprout would have time to develop into an adult. 
 
 For proof I had shown in my Circulars No. 128, 129 and 180 
 that in cages placed in the open field weevils caged and depriv- 
 
30 
 
 ed of food October 26tli gave with a mean average temperature 
 of 51.9 degrees for the next seven days a survival of 25.12 per 
 cent. A cage, along the same lines, started November 2nd, with 
 a mean for the first 7 days of 59.4, gave a survival of 23.3 per 
 cent; a cage started November 9th, with a mean of 53.1 degrees 
 gave a survival of 24.36 per cent and a cage started November 
 16th with a mean of 55.3 gave a survival of 26.69. On the other 
 hand a cage started November 23rd with a mean of 70.31 de- 
 grees for the 7 next days showed a falling off to 12.67 per cent. 
 The cause of this falling off was shown from the results of these 
 and other cages to be due to lack of access to cool shelter when 
 the temperature was high right after caging. That this is cor- 
 rect is proved further by the result of the next cage started Vq- 
 vember 30th which with a mean of 55.9 degrees showed a sur- 
 vival of 29.7 per cent. 
 
 These results show that I was right all along in claim in s^ 
 that weevils left uncaged would select, in the failure of linding 
 food, cool places, and not dry stalks and loose litter in tlic open 
 field, especially if the rainfall is only 0.28 for the month of 
 October as was then the case. This is further proved by a cage 
 started in the woods Octobed 26th with Spanish moss on a 
 stump for shelter which ffave a survival of 43.69 per cent, lint 
 the Bureau just simply could not see this evidence Nor was 
 any Secretary of Agriculture or Congressman willing to bump 
 their noses against it. 
 
 "With the stalks cut off by September 1st and burned i or 5 
 days after, this, of course, means a quite different reduction 
 than destruction by October 15th which would drive the 
 weevils to the woods, where they could, with the temperature 
 admittedly 10 to 15 degrees loAver during the day, easUv sur 
 vive without food. If then the surviving hibernated weevils art.* 
 watched in tlie spring as tbey arrive at the edge of the field 
 
31 
 and are promptly picked off as described iu detail in uiy Cir- 
 cular No, 137, they are so well kept in check ,that, as Tar as the 
 weevil is concerned, production will keep up till frost. The 
 stalks, having been spaced close rather than far apart will then 
 act as hibernating quarters to a certain extent and they should 
 not be destroyed till hibernation is well under way. Then they 
 can be chopped down with the stalk chopper and cleanly and 
 safely deep buried, thus doing away with all burning. 
 
 In the case of the chinch bug, therefore, the use of the torch 
 on the edge of the cornfield must be considered to he the only 
 really satisfactory course. 
 
 There were several torches sent to Experiment Stations and 
 to Agricultural Papers doing experimental work of their own. 
 One torch was sent to Orono, Me. and one to Berkeley, Calif. 
 In both cases nothing of value was reported. They said the ap- 
 paratus had become out of order and that was sufficient rea- 
 son to stop work. One torch was sent to the Cornell University, 
 Ithaeca, N. Y. Prof. Craig made some tests, principally for 
 sicking insects on orchard trees. On the whole he did not con- 
 demn the use of heat outright, but said the apparatus is not 
 effective enough to be used on fruit trees growing up to 40 
 feet high. 
 
 Now, that is on the whole true. It was equal to telling the 
 manufacturers of bucket or barrel spray pumps that their ap- 
 paratus were not powerful enough for such work. These have 
 their uses where the poweroutfits cannot l^e used. The truth 
 is the power spraying outfits were evolved from these smaller 
 outfits. There is no real difficulty to construct a torch with a 
 20 to 50 gallon tank, one third full of gasoline, mounted way 
 up on a tower as used with the power outfits to support one or 
 more men, with as many leads of hose, pipe and burner as may 
 be desired. With the gasoline supply thus well raised there is 
 no trouble keeping the burners going. For workirg in ho]v 
 
32 
 
 yards^ vineyards, or orang-e groves similar lower outfits can be 
 made. The real question is whether or not the use of heat is 
 economical and practical. 
 
 One torch was sent to the Illinois State Entomologist. He 
 published a report claiming that the Michigan Station had in 
 1898, I believe, used a torch of the multiple type just described 
 for work on the San Jose scale, but abandoned it as being too • 
 severe on the plants. Next the Director of the Texas Sub- 
 station at Beeville was credited with having done some original 
 work with a plumber's torch in, I believe, 1898. But from my 
 intercourse with Mr. Winfree I had reason to believe that this 
 was due to Mr. Winfree 's efforts of selling torches in that part 
 of the country for work on truck crops. Prof. Sanderson, then 
 Texas State Entomologist, was reported Avith having used my 
 torch on fallen cotton squares infested with boll weevil larvae 
 lying on the ground with quite unsatisfactory results, which, of 
 course, any sane man could foretell had to be as unsatisfactory 
 as trying to sell a calf to a butcher while yet inside the cow. 
 The report further stated that heat was applied to the leaves 
 of a lilac plant heavily coated with spores, that the flame licked 
 the spores off, but that after a fcAv days new ones bad cropped 
 out, when every half ways educated farmer is supposed to 
 know that the fungus works inside of the leaf, that the spores, 
 in that case, are the resulting seeds, and their production must 
 keep up till the fungus organization cannot produce any more. 
 Tlie report wound up with the statement, that while the use of 
 heat may be practical to some extent, it cannot at present be 
 recommended and — there the matter did rest, aud is resting 
 now for all I know. 
 
 Neither Mr. Winfree nor myself was credited with having 
 dore anything to point out the possibilities of the use of heat in 
 controllino- inspects and fiirL'i. T wrote to th(^ ]\[ic] io^an Station 
 
33 
 
 for any report they might have regarding the use of heat in 
 1898 or thereabouts. There was no reply. 
 
 Thus getting no encouragement from anywhere and getting 
 it in the tieck fair and foul from a few directions at the same 
 time, I was unable to see that I had a ghost of a chance to 
 keep from going broke if I kept up this work and stopped then 
 and there to await some more propitious time for action. 
 
 One very good argument for that course was the fact that 
 just then the boll weevil scare was at its height, Congress ap- 
 propriating $250,000 for one year's investigation work. 
 
 The Bureau of Entomology, at a very early stage, recommen- 
 ded as the chief means of control the universal cutting off of 
 the food supply as early in the fall as the crop, or, rather, the 
 bulk of it could be gathered. 
 
 Now, cutting off the food supply as soon as possible must, in 
 a general way, be considered as being to some extent detrimen- 
 tal to the insect thus affected. It is a recommendation nearly as 
 old as the hills and has been a favorite prescription for the con- 
 trol of insects affecting the cucumber tribe nearly quite as long. 
 But every grower of these plants knows, that if he were to rely 
 on it, it would not be worth while planting anything. 
 
 The Bureau first tried to prove their contention through ap- 
 parently favorable results secured at Olivia, Texas by destroy- 
 ing the stalks on 400 acres during the first 10 days of October 
 ard by destroying and keeping down all volunteer cotton. I at 
 orce pointed out in my Circular No. 84, January 9th, 1908 and 
 subsequently more in detail in my Circulars No. 85, 115 and 
 129, p. 4 that the weevils in that case had, since the nearest 
 cotton patch was 15 miles away and the pea was on two sides, 
 the surviving weevils, having scattered in search of food, 
 but a whiff of a chance to find any cotton at all the followinf 
 spring, while, on the average, the cotton area is one-fifth of the 
 
34 
 
 total area of the affected States. The Bureau being unable to 
 dispute this kept silent. Nor did I ever succeed to have the Sec- 
 retary of Agriculture or the former Chairman of the House 
 Committee on Agriculture stir them up. 
 
 The Bureau also claimed because of cage tests they made in 
 1906-07 that destruction of. the stalks by October 15th would 
 result in a survival of about 3 per cent of the adults then living. 
 In the absence of details I pointed out in my Circular No. 109, 
 Sept. 21st, 1909, that destroying the food supply would mean 
 to force them to hunt for such a supply, which in turn means 
 that failing to find it, they would secrete themselves in cool 
 places of their own selection. This suspicion that the Bureau m 
 its tests had not given the weevils the choice of such selection 
 was soon found to be well grounded, because Entomology Bulle- 
 tin No. 77 soon after came out and showed that the test cages 
 were located in the open field, subject to the severe changes of 
 heat and cold with no access for the weevils to places where the 
 capillary attraction had not been disturbed. Even as it was, 
 however, in cages managed along the same lines, Circular No. 
 31 of the Louisiana State Crop Pest Commission, p. 208, records 
 a case of a weevil caged as early as September 28th, 1908 going 
 without food from then, with the mean average temperature for 
 the first 4 weeks, the most critical time, at 65.5 degrees, till 
 June 9th 1909—255 days. 
 
 All efforts on my part to induce" those charged with looking 
 after the farmers ' interests to force the Bureau to conduct 
 tests that corresponded to normal conditions, that is in cages 
 where the weevils have access to both such shelter as had been 
 used before and also to shelter as furnished by rocks, grasses, 
 Aveeds, bushes, stumps, on ground left undisturbed except for 
 ■^he fencing, and also in cages located in the woods, utterly fail- 
 ed. My o.ontention is that destruction of the food supply once 
 
35 
 it is delayed till October 15tli should not be practiced at all, and 
 that destruction of food supply to be of real value must be pra- 
 cticed much earlier. The proof for it and just what is wanted 
 of the Bureau and of those charged with looking after them 
 you find in my Circular No. 137. Thus far there was no action. 
 There was no lack of effort on my part to shake up the affect- 
 ed cotton growers. Since they seemed not to mind whether or 
 not they got humbugged, I felt I should not press my case too 
 hard. Now that the Argentine ant is trying to get into the 
 soup of these same people I thought it would be a good thing xo 
 point out a thing or two. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture has always protested against 
 anj' proposed legislation restricting its experiments. They are 
 always hollering for more funds to carry on the work the}^ claim 
 the nation needs. In Bulletin No 5, of September 27th. 1913, 
 treating on the Southern corn root worm they complain on page 
 II about lack of funds with which to make tests in an effort to 
 find some practical measure to control this pest. Now this 
 insect is closely related to the striped cucumber beetle which I 
 had pointed out ten years ago, is caught in the traptorch in 
 large numbers. Hence it is very probable that the Southern 
 corn root worm and many other related insects can be cheapest 
 controlled by the traptorch And the Bureau had a chance to 
 make tests along this line for 10 years past. This traptorch 
 ought to prove to be also the cheapest means of controlling cer- 
 tain weevils infesting clovers. The strawberry weevil might 
 prove amenable to this treatment. "... the 'green bug' in the 
 South originates in spots in the grain fields " (Ent. Circu- 
 lar No 93.) And there is nothing at present that is or can be 
 better for control than a blast from the torch. Then you have 
 the Mexican conchucla starting on its way over the South. This 
 insect is a more or less gregarious bug and considering its great 
 variety of foodplants a blast from the torch is the most feasible 
 means of control. And — well — and so on. But what can you 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I 
 
 llii'ilPlili!!|l|||lpN||| 
 
 36 
 
 000 890 529 
 do with men tfiat refuse to point out the supposea misiaKcrv 
 
 they claim there exist in connection with my system of boll- 
 weevil control, when you do your level best to have the 
 Secretary of Agriculture make them do it, and when Congress 
 has given them for that work alone somewhat near two million 
 dollars? 
 
 The Reinlein Knapsack 
 Gasoline Torch 
 
 Patent No. 739,221; September 15th 1903 
 For description, see page 8 
 
Hollinger ( 
 pH8.5 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 D0D0fl^DSE'=3D 
 
 Hollinger Corp. 
 pH8.5