Copy 1 On The Control of Sugar-Cane Insects. Copyright 1919, by Fred Reinlein, 1751 Derby St., Portland, Ore. Circular No. 155. May 16, 1919 The world's increasing demand for sugar is resulting in in- creased areas being devoted to sugarcane. At the same time this increased area tends to increased injuriousness by insects and plant diseases. Very little in the way of securing efficient means of controlling either insects or plant diseases on sugar- cane has as yet been accomplished. I propose to point out bet- ter means of control. As the sugarcane insects of Hawaii are pretty exhaustively treated in U. S. Dept Agri. Bulletin No. 93, I will begin with a discussion of these. The most important sugarcane insect in Hawaii is the su- garcane leafhopper. It has been introduced from Australia. It has also been recorded from Java. With the lively commerce through the Panama Canal this exposes the canefields of the Southern States to continual danger of infestation. In addition as far back as 184.1 a related species feeding on sugarcane was recorded from the West Indies (p. 34). This "insect lives in company with its larva in large numbers behind leafsheaths, which it punctures to imbibe the sap of the plant. When mature it is exceedingly active in its habits, springing with suddenness from its resting place at the least disturbance..." [p. 12]. "..The leafhoppei, during heavy infestation will continue to puncture the midribs of the leaves as rapidly as the leaves unfold... Or- dinarily when disturbed the adult leafhopper does not fly, but moves off in an odd sidewise fashion to another part of the leaf, or springs suddenly to another portion of the plant. .."(p. 16). As to means of control officially advocated we have to con- sider direct measures, indirect measures and natural control. The direct measures are: Insecticides, collection by nets, cut- ting and burning" the infested centers, stripping the leaves, and burning of trash after harvesting (p. 22). In practice, admitt- edly, none of these things are of any value. Of insecticides no tangible results could be secured. Collecting by nets "was al- so discarded. "Cutting and burning showed"that the Adults were able to take flight from the burning cane and escape to adjoin- ing fields." Stripping the leaves "...showed... that in heavy infestation the internodes of the stalk of stripped cane contained hundreds of punctures from egg laying..." Burning of trash "...is the most effective method practiced for the control of the insects of sugar cane." But on page 33 Dr. Perkins is quoted as saying that "on the Colonial Sugar Refining Company's es- tate in Australia no such burning off is allowed. If this" (suppo- sition that this increases the number of natural enemies) "is cor- rect, it may help to account for the insignificant numbers of our cane leaf hoppers here..." One of the indirect measures consists in selection of varie ties of cane for planting As to resistance "...the Yellow Caledo- nia made the best showing." But as to sugar production— ton for ton— it seems to be inferior to other varieties, for, as usual, everything the Bureau hands out must be taken with a grain of salt— "it is for the planter to decide whether otfjiot jjfc advan- tage of one variety over another are offset by the ravag£s*T)f the leaf hopper..." (p. 24). - ^ Another indirect measure "natural methocrs, -'Consisting in intensive cultivation, fertilization and irrigation, resulted in a lower rate of loss than fields not so treated. Naturally, keeping the field clear of weeds early in the season tends to drive hop- pers to places not so clear. Whether with all fields so treated this would result in a decrease in number, taking the fields as a whole, is not at all proved. Another indirect means, diversifica- tion of crops, is recommended. This means a decrease in acre- age. Of course, if no cane were grown at all, and other possible food plants were kept down, it would be possible to starve the hopper out. NOV 29 Iblb ©CU557445 3 £ m< . .. Another indirect means claimed is the control of the rind disease of sugar cane." But the control is merely declared to ZJ be desirable, for no means of control does exist. The natural control consists in the fostering of natural ene- mies of the hopper. These are chiefly parasitic and predaceous insects, and certain fungus diseases. The burning of the trash is conceded to be inimical to the development and perpetuation of the parasitic and predaceous insects. And with burning of the trash, now officially considered to be imperative for the con- trol of cane insects ir general, it is now proposed, as far as con- trol of the leafhopper is concerned, to propagate and distribute the natural enemies artificially. Parasites are liable to be decimated at any time by hyper- parasites. "Several species of ants were very active about the leafhopper in the canefields, the honeydew being an attraction to them" (p. 28). That means that these ants will work towards the increase of the leaihorjper by attacking as far as possible the parasitic and predaceous insects that pray upon the leafhopper. And altogether there is reason to believe that most of what nat- ural control there is, comes through the working of the two fun- gus diseases that are present, "which long previously known to kill the native leafhoppers, have become transferred to the intro- duced pe^tf .."(p. 32). As this leafhopper lives behind the leafsheaths, there is just one thing that will work there and that is the hot airblast torch. This insect hides similarily to the chinchbug. I had shown as far back as 21 years that the blast from a common plumber's torch makes the chinchbugs and other insects capable of locomo- tion hidden behind the leafsheaths come out in a hurry and tum- ble to the ground where they can be killed by the blast at close range. I had shown that the best time for this is the cool part of the day, or spells of cool or wet weather. The higher the temperature the more readily will adult leafhoppers be able to jump or fly out of range. But during hot weather work against the adults with a torch can be kept up from the cool of the even- ing during all of the night and most of the forenoon, say 16 hours out of 24. During the remaining 8 hours the work can be kept up, but the blast should approach the bugs in a backward stroke. In this way the bugs will not become restless enough to get away before the blast is upon them. The Hawaiian sugarcane borer is second in importance in Hawaii and this insect also hides, during the day, within the lower leaf sheaths as do many other injurious insects of less im- portance. The use of a torch will cause them to come out, most, if not all, will fall to the ground, there to be killed by the blast. The present official way consists in collecting the adult weevils by hand, either hidden behind the leafsheaths or hidden under split pieces of cane distributed through the field. Again, there is the sugarcane mealy bug "congregating for the most part behind the older leaves near the ground" (p, 44). An occasional licking will keep them down. The official means of control consists in "Selection of seed cane" and "Burning of trash" and, of course, "Natural enemies." Most if not all ants present protect and foster the mealybug, incidentally defending it against its natural enemies. Hence you see a need of a means control applicable to the growing cane, as furnished by a torch. This not only kills the ants it hits in licking of the bugs, but the ants can be traced to their nests and a blast blowing about it will bring the colony out so it can be destroyed. In Hawaii "an aphis... is occasionally injurious to cane" (p. 45). Remedy: The use of a hot airblast torch. Of course the use of a common plumber's torch is not advocated, some such type as is shown on last page should be used. "in some districts... a mole cricket... is sometimes abun- dant enough to be injurious. Another species... is a most impor- tant pest of sugarcane in the island of Porto Rico... wherever the Hawaiian mole crickets were numerous almost all of the seed cane was destroyed. ..''(p. 46). No official remedy. Free use of poultry will probably keep them under control. One of the most important sugarcane insects in Hawaii is the leafroller. An official means of control employed at times is "to send laborers through the fields to pinch the caterpillars in their retreat between the folded cane leaves. '* (p. 42). As this insect is sometimes so plentiful as to entirely strip the canefieldfe, this remedy will not do. When abundant patrolmg the younfe cane with poultry will be the means of getting rid of many of the moths. These apparently hide about the plant during the day and fly during the night. It is similar with various adults of army worms and cut worms and probably with a bud moth, mentioned on page 46. Most everj- year one or the other is more or less plentiful. Gen- erally speaking the best thing that can be done is to use the torch as a trap-light at night. How to use the torch shown on last page as the most successful trap-light in exister/e is ex- plained in detail on pages 25 and 26 of my Circular No. 153. It is done, in corn or cane, in substance by suspending the torch on a tripod made out of 3 pieces of light clear lumber 12 to 16 or more feet long. The tank is hooked up in the apex; hose and pipe are allowed to drop. A cord is used to give the hose some slack, removing the strain. On the burner is hooked a pail. This pail is fitted up similar to a spittoon by having a funnel- shaped cover with a hole in the center. And over the burner is placed a piece of tin of the shape of a lampshade. A circle of light of about 1 h inches width is allowed to shine forth between the lower edge of the upper cone-shaped fitting and the rim of the pail. This allows the insects to fly in, there to bump against the red-hot burner, get stunned, and drop through the hole be- low into the pail. Or, if not so easily conquered, as happens with strongbodied insects, they will, in trying to get out bump in nearly all cases against the upper or lower cone-shaped fit- ting, and because of the narrow space, the intense heat and the poisonous air be quickly disabled to roll into the pail below. The poisonous air blowing downward through the hole soon puts a stop to all attempts to escape through this only possible out- let. I had shown in my Circular No. 153 that if sweet-smelling sweets, such as water and molasses were put into the pail, this would make the torch especially attractive to insects in general. This torch does not make a bright light. This in some re- 6 gpects is an advantage, as the insects, attracked cannot gauge the distance correctly and are knocked silly and trapped before they know what has happened. "...The Hawaiian sugarcane leaf- hopper is an insect readily attracted to light at night. .."(p. 14.) The weevil borer, most likely, is also attracted to light. If 'so, this will be of very considerable value, since this insect attacks, in Hawaii, also the banana, coconut palm, sago palm, royal palm, winepalm and papaia. "Dying coconut palms were ex- amined and in the tender heart of the palm were found great numbers of the insects (borers), in all stages" (p. 37). Of course an insect attacking tall trees, and living within in all stages, if attracted to light can be handled in no easier way than by the use of a trap that is capable of trapping in vast numbers. The leaf- roller moth, in all probability, can thus also be trapped. Poul- try in cane fields would probably be able to secure a fair share of the weevils. As explained on pages 26 and 27 of my Circular No. 154 the Bureau of Entomology has no system of trapping that is worth anything. Being created to promote entomological knowledge in its broadest sense, the Bureau rfas persistently to hinder all progress along the line shown by me by refusing to make check tests and give the results. Moreover the Bureau repeatedly told Members of Congress that were trying to get at the truth I am wrong on every point. The chairmen of the Congressional Com- mittees on Agriculture, Senator Thomas P. Gore and Represen- tative Asbury F Lever have never seen to it that the Entomolo- gist gives his reasons for making such a statement. A torch used as a trap works automatically. A quantity of gasoline, enough to run about the time desired, say four hours, is put in, air is pumped in, and the gasoline will use itself clear up without any attention. The mothborerof the Southern States can in all probality also be trapped, along with the weevil borers, now established since nine years in some places, together with the sugarcane beetle and other insects amenable to this method. The chief reliance for the control of the mothborer, howev- er, is to be found in the use of cum for attracting the last two broods, described in detail in my Circular No. 154, pp. 9 to 12, the original description being given pages 31 to 35 ot my Circu- lar Xo. 151. As the moths prefer tender corn to cane tor ovi- position, by providing patches of late planted corn in succession and using it for fodder, stover or silage, and finally trapping the borer to hibernating quarters, the borers there to be destroyed by plowing before emergence begins in the spring, the moth- borer is readily and cheaply controlled. Poultrv, if present to keep down other injurious insects, such as ants, is also helpful by securing part of the moths. Meanwhile the Bureau, instead of passing on the merits or de-merits ot this method, is nosing around for a natural enemy that secures the same result. One thing in this connection the Bureau refuses to make clear to the public. It is that while un- der primitive conditions natural enemies do usually effectively control injurious insects, under modern methods of agriculture food plants such as cane, corn, wheat are grown in vast tracts, enormously favoring multiplication of injurious insects, while safe hibernating places for parasitic insects are far less plentiful than under primitive condition, in fact would be almost absent if the Bureau's recommendation of destroying hibernating places for injurious insects were followed. Besides the injurious insects often can breed at a mean average temperature too low for the parasites to breed. In the Southern States the use of poultrv becomes impera- tive in cane through the presence of the Argentine ant, which fosters the development of the mealy bug and also of aphids. These ants unless kept down by poultry, would have to be kept down by the use of a torch. This use of a torch I had shown as far back as four years ago in my Circular No. 147 is the best thing to enable poultry to gain a start at a given place. The sum- mer nests ot this ant are very shallow and letting a blast blow about them brings the whole outfit out to be killed with the greatest ease. This then gives poultry roosting — and breeding places free of ants and enables them to bring the pests under control. The Bureau for the use of these ants in general recom- mends the use of poisoned ant syrup. You will readily see that in canefields or other vegetation supporting aphids or coccids this fails to work, if carried out, because the ants then prefer the excretions of these insects to all other food. Moreover all kinds of waste places make a natural home for these ants. To use poultry for control simply means to use a domesticated form of natural enemy. Further, ant syrup will poison the beneficial in- sects attracted to it. Froghoppers or spittle insects have also been found as far back as 191 1 in Louisiana and, 4ike the borer, may at any time attract big attention. They are sucking insects and respond to the use of a torch same as the mealy bug. "...if they get estab- lished in sugarcane there is no knowing what may happen.. ' : (Ent. Circ. No. 165, p. 4). No official means of control is sug- gested. Also "leaf hoppers in very small numbers were observ- ed (in 1912) several times during the season on sugarcane, but no injury due to them could be detected." (Ent. Circ. No, 171, p. 6). There also is "no kno\vmgL-what may happen." Another moth borer. Castnia licus, exists in the West In- dies. Its range extends northward to Mexico. "Collecting the moths by means of nets in the hands of children has given bet- ter results than any other direct means.." Ent. Circ. No'. 165, p 3. The adult is a day flying moth. Poultry might be able to secure some when ovipositing. "...The pupal stage is passed in the cane or in the soil near the underground portion..." (p. 2) Hence poultry might be expected to secure some pupae. "Its original food plants were species of the orchid family and of the- family of plants to which the pineapple belongs (Bromeliaceae)... in Trinidad it is known to attack sugarcane and bananas..." This would make it appear likely that, if introduced into the United States, it could be controlled by trapping it to corn same as the moth borer we now have. The recent publication of Farmers' Bulletin No. 944: Con- trolling the Garden Web Worm in Alfalfa Fields, through point- ing out the danger of serious damage by this species, and through failing to offer a satisfactory means of control makes the evi- dence given there suitable for showing the need for developing poultry raising to a scale laige enough to enable the farmers to cope with such pests when affecting cereal and forage crops, and also for pointing out the advantage that can be gained by trap- ping with light-traps certain insects, that are attracted to light, hence amenable to trapping, but which insects are not, because of poisonous hairs they carry while in the larval stage, or for other reasons, such as being out of reach, amenable to attack by poultry. "The garden web worm... has caused extensive damage to alfalfa in California, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. In infested localities of the last three states it is not uncommon for second or third annual cut- tings to be entirely destroyed by the pest" (p. 3). The food plants are given as corn and garden crops, beets, potatoes and other plants., "various crops/' alfalfa and cotton, and several kinds of weeds, showing it to be capable of existing upon most an\^ garden and forage plant and weed. The moth appears in the alfalfa fields about May 1st. After mating they deposit their eggs, usually in clusters of 40 or 50, upon the low- er surface of the leaves, usually on those near the top. "individ- ual females may deposit as many as 300 to 400 eggs. The eggs are laid on the alfalfa plants or on adjacent weeds... In the lati- tude of Kansas and Oklahoma there are, apparently, four gene- rations annually... The form or stage in which the insect over- winters in that latitude has not been definitely determined" [p 6] Thus a female emerging in the spring from a pupa, mating and producing only 100 females enables these, at the same low esti- mate to produce 10,000 females in the second generation, these to produce 1,000,000 females in the third generation and these cause, at 300 eggs each hatching, 300,000,000 of worms in the fourth generation, showing the enormous potential capacity for damage. "The moths are most active at night and are strongly attracted to light. .-"(p. 6). 10 For remedies the Bureau advises: Timeh T cuttings, brush drags, and clean cultivation. These means are absolutely inad- equate as will be shown. Both timely and untimely cuttings will naturally kill many larvae in the field, the "timely cuttings being given at an earlier date" than is customary. They are given at any time before damage gets too serious. It is simply a matter of cutting while there is yet something to cut. This, of course, is a set back to increase; but with the capacity of the insect for increase, its large range of food plants and large number of this insect present as pupa in the ground even then and with the adults capable, if need be, of flying for miles for suitable oviposition material, an alfalfa field necessarily becomes readily re-infested, in fact prob- ably offers the most favorable breeding material available on a large scale in the latter part of the season, especially if irrigated. A brush drag does not, under the circumstances, offer enough of a set back to amount to anything. "Clean cultivation methods are also of much value... Since pig weed and lamb's quarter are its favorite natural food plants, it is important that fields, fencerows and near-b}' waste ground be cleared of these and other weeds. The pest often breeds up- on such weeds and imigrates later to near-by alfalfa, w T hich would escape injury if these weeds were not present" (p. 7). As the pest is omnivorous, if its preferred food plants were to be re- moved, nearly every green thing would have to be kept down for miles around, since the adults are capable of flying long distan- ces if no suitable plant be close by. This destroys the natural grazing ground. and ruins the land by erosion, affecting, in turn, the capacity for navigation of rivers and harbors, the maintain- ance of power plants and the production of fish, for the same plan is advocated by the Bureau in the case of many other in- sects infesting field- and forage crops, and for insects in general. However, even if the "weeds" were "thus cleared off" for miles around, the pest would then simply feed and breed that much more severed on cultivated crops other than alfalfa when such is not available immediatelv following a cutting. II "In loose sandy soil" (the cocoons harboring the pupae) "are often slightly more than i % inches long, but in heavydry soil they usually are not more than one-half to three- fourths of an inch long... They extend downward in a nearly vertical position, the top end even with the surface of the soil. After about 10 days... the tiny adult or moth issues..." (p. 5). Thus, as at cutting time the soil is more or less stocked with pupae, if every larva be killed at cutting time, this set back with the enormous capacity for reproduction does not bring tangible results. The pupa is thus exposed to attack by poultry as is the cat- erpillar and the moth. It is reasonably certain that the insect hibernates mostly as pupa. The moths evidently emerge in the spring irregularly and at the time of any 'timely cutting' are pres- ent in any stage and can readily recover, even if the proportion of pupae then in the ground compared with the number of larvae then present be small. Thus, poultry given the run of the fields and waste places, the pest would be kept down. In addition, for quick and immediate effect, the adults can be trapped, as descib- ed on pages 5 and 6 of this Circular. The alfalfa fields might at the same time be affected by the alfalfa caterpillar. The adult is a butterfly. The cat- erpillar eats of the leaves and when grown spins up as a crysalis on alfalfa- or other stems. The insect hibernates as but- terfly, larva and pupa, chiefly as the latter in the cooler sections of its range, hidden away in trash in the ground, chiefty outside of the field. Poultry thus can attack the insect the year around and keep the pest easily down to harmless numbers In a way this is conceded in U. S. A. Bulletin No. 124, p. 28: ".-.Do- mestic fowls... play an important part in the history of this in- sect..." However the idea of using poultry on a vastly larger scale than is now done by merely employing the usual little farm flock is lacking, for the writer says on page 29: "From these observations it is seen that chickens may be utilized in small fields to keep down the numbers of alfalfa caterpillars and that turkeys, because of their roving nature, can be used to ad- 12 vantage in larger helds. Mr. Charles Springer, ot Cimarron, New Mexico, informs the writer that he hires a boy to herd an immense flock of turkeys on the range, so that they may feed up- on the grasshoppers destroying the grama grass and other range grasses It seems that the same method could be imployed in outbreaks of the alfalfa caterpillar ..". This is taking too narrow a view of the matter. Cimarron. New Mex. is in the heart of the New Mexico range caterpillar ter- ritory. I had shown in 1915 in mv Circular No. 146 that poultry could be used there to keep down the range caterpillar, attack- ing the grama grasses and other range vegetation, and also now invading cultivated crops, not by eating any of the growing cat- erpillars, but by attacking the insect during the seven months ot cool season while it is in the egg stage in clusters on grass, and weed stems slightly above the ground; also' bV eating of the young caterpillers before they acquire poisonous spines, and by eating of the pupae found in clusters on grass- and weed stems, and further by eating of the moths hanging during daytime quietly in plain view on — and weed stems during fall. All efforts to have the Bureau of Entomology admit that this idea is sound were futile. Now Mr. Springer demonstrates in practice that it can be done to keep down grass hoppers. As the grasshoppers hibernate as eggs in the ground, his turkeys have been feeding all along on pupae, adults, eggs and larvae of the range cater- pillar without his knowing it. What the Bureau knew in this connection was that the turkeys do not ( eat of the larvae after they have poisonous hairs, but such is the case only about two months out of the twelve. And if the matter were looked into closely, it would probably be found that Mr. Springer does it at a profit of several hundred per cent. However, even if the poul- try raising itself did not pay. it would pay indirectly big by pre- venting heavy loss to the ranch grasses and thus to the stock. As a matter of fact poultry thus given the run of vast tracts of low priced lands in large flocks in the care of a herder offers the most favorable conditions for producing poultry and eggs free ot disease. The flock, it was pointed out by me, can be protected by a movable wire fence at night. This enables the herder to trap or shoot wild animals trying to prey upon the poultry at night. At the high prices of furs, this goas a long way tc keep him paid. As a matter of fact, as explained on pages 7 to 9 of my Cir- cular No. 154, the New Mexico Biologist Entomologist utterly condem3d -this plan. It must be obvious that the more the country is cleared and given over to cultivation or to pasture, the less can birds maintain themselves in sufficient numbers to cope with the injurious insects stimulated to increase by an abundant supply of food, and that the natural remedy consists in using poultry under the control of man. If the Bureau's plan of 'clearing weeds' were carried through, this would remove the natural feeding ground for poultry while the fields offer little or no pick- ing. This renders the carrying through the winter of flocks of any great size impracticable, which is necessary to deal with out- breaks. xAlfalfa might also be attacked by the clover rootcurculio or by the clover root borer. The adults of both species are prob- ably attracted to light and might be trapped. But the most prac- tical means of control all around is the use of poultry to secure the adults as thev are about laying their eggs on the neck of the roots. Poultry also may be able to secure some of the larvae. Naturally the adults prefer to hibernate in nearby rank vegeta- tion, woods probably being the .most favorable. This same course I had shown for several years keeps the alfalfa weevil un- der control. In the case of the bean- and peaweevils, discussed in Far- mers' Bulletin No. 983, there is at present no official means known of affecting them in the field. Poultry, if admitted after -the plants have become well established, can be expected to se- cure many of the adults. When grown in quantity what damage poultry might do to peas and beans will be far offset by the num- ber of adult weevils they secure. It is likely these weevils are attracted to light and, if so, can be trapped in vast numbers by the use of a torch as described on page 5 of this Circular. 5 14 Treating the seeds after harvesting with fumigants. ,or, other means to destroy the grubs within is not going far enough, for many adults emerge in late summer and fall and escape before harvest or before treatment can be given. Also many adults es- cape from fallen seeds and scattered pods. These then re-infest the young crpp next spring and call for an efficient means of con- trol in the field. As some of the bean-infesting weevils have as man}' as 6-7 generations in the latitude of Washington, D. C., it is plain that with no means of control in the field available, a small number of weevils surviving the, winter is capable of de- stroying the crop. The use of a trap and the use of poultry .of- fer the only chance, of effective reduction during the growing seasons. In using such a trap, of .course, mariy other insects are caught, the catch showing just what insects, of those that ar^ at- tracted to light, are becoming .plentiful. Grain and forage crops on low lands are often infested by insects that normally live. an rank grasses .growing, in wet; places. Some of these aijetyhe bill- bugs, certain wireworms, and the rough headed cornstalk beetle, while there are other pests, haying similar effect, living on dry ground. No_ satisfactory official remedy is known. rli \s might be expected the Bureau advocates under these conditions t,he de- struction of the wild food plants, but these are needed, in low- land as soilbinders and as protection to ( creek and, river banks especially if there are no timber fringes,, and on higher lands the}', or other rank growth, are needed to prevent erosion. Wfaste is contrary to the laws of nature. What the Bureau of Ento- mology calls wastelands is natural feeding ground for stock and under modern methods of agriculture offers the best means , of carrying poultry in the cheapest manner through the winter, W r here grassland is to be plowed up, for corn, often, many cutworms, white grubs, pillbugs.and wire worms are present- The Bureau's.general remedy is to plow the land in that case ,as early as the late summer or early in the fall before. The aim, is tp starve the grub out. In the first place, a trap used the prev- tous summer would shovv the rate of infestation and would re- duce it. ' The most convenient time for plowing is late fall and early spring. Sod then turned down gives in a large measure support to the grubs and worms within while the corn is mak- ing a stand. In fact, it often happens that damage does not be- come apparent till the ..second year. These grubs and worms naturally want to. eat of the fresh growth above ground or of the roots or tubers in the ground. In the case of corn when sprout- ing there is. but little to eat for some weeks, hence the damage often ver}' heavy. This can be easily remedied by drilling in for every few rows of corn a row of some quickgrowing plant along- side the corn. Anything quickgrowing and succulent will do. Of grasses rye is probably best, and turnips or rankgrowing rad- ishes ought to be splendid. The latter might be broadcasted immediately after the plowing. Or some of these seeds mat* be added from time to time to the seed corn in the hopper at plant- ing time.< After the corft; irst thus far. Inquiry in Mississippi, however, shows upon information furnished by State Entomologist R. W. Harned that his State after two years of severe damage is no longer noticably affected. But serious outbreaks may have been omirrmg elsewhere right along. It is thought that the de- crease in cotton growing, or, what is more likely, the destruc- tion of the bolls in the tall by plowing-in, may have forced this insect to attack corn with corresponding severity. "...In the young squares (of cotton) ...the active little reddish larva ol this Batrachedra is very often found as unquestionably an ori- ginal inhabitant and it undoubtedly frequently causes quite an extensive shedding of the squares. This however, only occurs in the spring... later in the season the Batrachedra larva is found boring in the unopened flowerheads of various weeds'' ip. 131 . While it is likely that the adult, a moth, can be trapped as described, the fact that the adult oviposits very readily upon young cottonsquares can be taken advantage of to control this pest most easily. When the infested squares fall and poultry has the run of the field, they will attack these and other infested fallen squares for the grubs within. I had explained at length in my Circular No. 152, and as far back as my Circulars Xo. 147 to 151, that the correct method of controlling the boll wee- vil consists in the use of poultry in connection with a trappatch •of late- planted cotton. This system of control I evolved to cope with the officially admitted tendency of the bollweevil to feed and breed in plants other than cotton, or to go without food and reproduction for long periods by secluding itself in the absence of acceptable food for feeding and breeding, in cool places well protected against heat and cold, thus conserving its vitality. I had shown from official evidence in my Circulars No. no to 154 that the conditions in the cage tests the Bureau of Entomology carried on in an attempt to prove what results would happen in case stalks are destroyed in the field at a given date were not normal, and have also shown that where the conditions furnished in the cage did approach normal conditions the survival was much greater than was officially claimed, this work dating back- nine years. Under my plan poultry is to be given the run during the winter of the surroundings of the fields to be planted to cotton, lessening thus the number of the successfully hibernating wee- vils. When cotton comes up poultry given the run of the field and the surroundings will pick off most of the weevils and many oth. er insects that feed in the tips of the young cottonplants and al. so pick off many other insects on nearby "wasteplaces" where they aim to complete their first generation to go to cotton in the second generation. As squares form and become infested poul- try will attack the fallen squares for grubs. It will readily be seen that this is a continuous check to the multiplication of the bollweevil and permits of the setting of a large amount of fruit. However, to detract the bollweevil, the bollworm and injurious insects in general from the fruiting plants, a small plat, located in the center of the field, about the one-hundredth part of the field in size, is not planted till two or three months after the planting of the main patch. The seed to be used for this trap- patch may be any kind that produces plenty of squares, as far as concentrating weevils and other grubs is concerned, but if seed from the main crop is to be saved for planting, the seed for the trappatch should be the same as that used for the main crop. This trappatch offers an abundance of succulent squares late in the season, hence concentrates the bollweevil, the boll- worm and many other injurious insects, including the pink corn- worm to be there continually attacked by poultry in fallen squares and also, in a measure, as adults. The bollworm goes to hiber- nate in the ground and a plowing before emergence of the moths begins in the spring, but preferably a few w^eeks sooner because of other insects present, disposes of it. As virtually all this was pointed out to the Bureau of Entomology as long as 3 years ago, you see it is expensive for the people to allow themselves to be humbugged with their own good money by electing men to Congress that let such things go on even if their special duty is to prevent them. In this connection it will be well to consider the difficulty encountered in the control of fungus diseases affecting plants in general, and cereal- and forage crops in particular, under the methods advocated by the Bureau of Plant Industry, especially as recent press notices announce the presence of a new wheat disease, said to be caused by a fungus, in Illinois, the area in- 29 tested being given as 100,000 acres. Giving this as the area infested simply means that there exists no definite knowledge as to how great the infestation may be outside of this area. In the case of fungi the spread is caused by spores being watted by wind or carried by insects, birds and other means, and in the ease ot bacterial diseases spread takes place chiefly through vi- rus being carried by insects. The Bureau ot Plant Industry does not claim to possess any means that are feasible to control, in a commercial way, a fungus disease of a cereal- and forage crop while the crop is growing. During this period several generations of spores are developed, the more or less complete destruction of which would mean a more or less complete control of the disease. There is no record of a fungus disease ever having remained confined to a small area, not even for a short time. The Bureau's means of control in the case of cereal- and forage crops are substantiallv confined to treating the seed with a germicide and to advocate rotation of crops. This, naturally, often proves to be entirely inadequate. As is well known, fungi, as a rule, do their great- est damage during a period of continued heat and moisture, and if such periods do not occur most fungi do but little damage without any treatment being given. Consequent^ any system of control that even holds out merelv a slim chance of economically treating the disease during the growing season should have the most careful consideration of the Bureau of Plant Industry. The essential principle of such a system was discovered and pointed out by me as far back as 1898 in a treatise published at "Alt. Vernon, Illinois, and entitled: The Use of the Gasoline Torch in Fighting Insects and Fungi. I showed there that the blast as given forth by a common plumber's torch is capable of licking off the spores of fungi resting upon a leaf; that, therefore, if for instance this torch be used to lick lice and other insects off of cucurbits, involving in this case more especially the treatment of the lower side of the foliage and of the stems, so difficult to reach with sprays, the spores of fungi present are incidentally also destroyed. Previously, in the same year, I had pointed out 30 that the use of such a torch was far the most practical means then known of controlling the harlequin cabbagebug, an effort on my part in the fall ot 1896 to control this pest, then seriously ai- fectrng cabbage and allied plants in the latitude of Southern Ill- inois, having been the direct cause to make me see the possibilities of the use ol rlame and heat as given forth by a torch in the cen- trol ol insects. The season of 1897 was given over to investi- gations in regard to the possibilities of the use of such a torch on insects, and application lor copyright of my first treatise en- titled: The Use of the Gasoline Torch in Fighting Insects -was made on November 8, of the same year, the treatise being pub- lished the following spring after tests begun in the fall of 1897, had shown flame and heat as produced by such torch to be capa- ble of successfully controlling the San Jose Scale. I pointed then out that while certain biting insects can be readily controlled by the use of arsenicals, other biting insects and most sucking ones can be far more easily controlled by the use of such a torch than by any other way then known. The chinchbug was then very plentiful, and stress was laid upon the possibilities of the torch in the control of this insect. 1 pointed out that in cool weather, or during the chill of the night and morning in early summer, the chinchbugs hide largely under the clods near the base of the plant and can be destroyed without affecting at all materially the corn they congregate on upon the approaching maturity ot the small grain they infest in the spring. Soon upon publishing this treatise I found that this same discovery as regards the control of the chinchbug and certain other insects by the use of the plumber's torch had been made also in 1897 by Mr. J. M. Wmfreeof Nashville, III. I soon re- alized that a common plumber's torch while possessing the es- sential principle of control, was not the proper type of torch for an economical application of heat, and in 1903 got out the type of torch shown on last page. It was distinct from any other torch in that the airpump was located in the center of the tank, and the handle of the pistonrod was in the shape of a hook. This pistonrod could be locked by means of a pin against movement. making it possible, after. detaching the shoulderstraps, to hook the apparatus from branch 10 branch in a tree. One of these torches was sent to the State Entomologist of Illinois and in the fall of that year he made a report He would not admit that the torch is the best thing for the control of the chinchbug, claiming in another report that the soil barrier and post hole method, consisting of a furrow that has been pulveri- zed with a log drag and in which at intervals postholes have been dug. was a better method.. The chinchbugs cannot at all readily make their way over a finely pulverized furrow. In migrating, under this plan, they fall in, but are not supposed to be able to get out. They are supposed to make their way alongside the bottom of the furrow and to fall into the postholes, there to be killed by the use of kerosene or otherwise. The U. S. Bureau of Entomology Bulletin No. 95, part III, indirectly condemns this plan in two ways, first by not mention- ing it at all under means of control, and second by describing there the log drag method in place of it, condemning the barrier method by the statement that "the block (log drag) must be kept in constant use, from early until late and sometimes well into he night" since "often, during the migration, the bugs travel all night." Another method, the coal tar barrier, is, ad-, mittedly. "apparently costl} r and troublesome," requires free- dom from dust, presence of which means renewal of tar barrier "quite often." These matters are discussed at length on pages 27 to 31 of my Circular No. 139. The Bureau admits that with the use or a torch "...generally one blast will cause all the bugs to fall to the ground where they can be burned..." The Bureau thus takes the liberty to quote from my copyrighted matter, and on the other hand, as a royalty, the U. S. Humbugologist tells Members of Congress I am wrong on every point. That's a steal pure and simple. Moreover a torch used for the chinchbug as described also incidentally enables the farmer to get rid 'of many other insects injurious to corn, and most of these are not affected at all by either the log drag or tar line method. The Illinois State Ento- 32 mologist said he had used the torch on woolly bear caterpillars just to find that they recover. He did not take the trouble to cage them and await results. He would have found in that case that they do not survive any length of time. He said little or nothing in regard to the effect the frequent slight application of the blast has on soft bodied insects such as lice. As to fungus control he said he found that the blast licked off a coating of fungus spores on lilac leaves, but found that spores reappeared in a few days. He thus furnished proof, that the blast kills spores of fungi as claimed, for the spores that subsequently appeared bad been thrown out by the mycelium working inside the leaf, showing that the leaf had not been in- jured in destroying previously the spores that had matured up- on it. Of other torches sent out for experimental purposes one was tested by the Cornell University Experiment Station. Prof.- John Craig, as mentioned substantially on page 31 of my Circular No. 139, reported he had destroyed the San Jose scale upon medlars without injuring the cambium, but said this torch is too small to treat orchards, trees being often as high as 40 feet. This is correct. But there is nothing in the way to get up any kind of torch for any purpose, that, too, without interfering with any possible patents. The fundamental principle of the inherent success of this method rests in the cheapness with which the killing agent -the blast — can be produced. At that time the lime-sulphur spray for 'the San Jose scale had not come into general use in the Eastern States. This spray went a long way to economically control this pest and also fun- gus diseases, but as subsequently described in my Circulars No, 139 to 154, especially on pages 11 to 14 of my Circular No. 147, torches can be constructed for orchardwork along the line of tower spraying outfits that will enable several men to attack in- sects and fungi, and do this work with surprising ease, cheap- ness and all around efficiency, winter and summer. For instance California and the Eastern States are now be- ing overrun by the pear thrips. I pointed out in detail on pages i ^lcpwhere that where this in- a L An at blossoming tune, in a lev aay {hat such d f rroo and thus requires prompt action. _1 SD ine . sulphate iiSillli wmmmm action. * . . ahout 4- weeks auim.-> nnres and as a good many large! u 34 poultr\ T handy by to pick them up. However, I also showed that .this is not necessary. I showed that the ease, swiftness and cheapness with which the blast can be applied makes if feasible to lick the ground with the blast, thus disposing of all the fal- len larvae. The Bureau of Plant Industry lays stress upon the need of controlling fungi, and the Bureau of Entomology lays stress up- on the need of controlling insects, and the two of them show you many killing agents and many apparatus to meet the require- ments for applying these killing agents under the many vary- ing conditions that occur. At the same time the Bureau of Plant Industry extolls the blessings of proper landscape gardening a- ronnd the home, of proper flower-gardening around the home, of the home fruit garden, and the home vegetable garden, all ot which means growing a great variety of vegetation from tail trees, down to grass. As in a general way each plant has its insect- and fungus enemies, if tall trees are affected these trees in home grounds usually are not accessible to the heavy power-spraying outfits these Bureaus recommend, whereas with or without the help ot a ladder as may be suitable, you can treat tall trees with the type of torch shown on last page. You might have some cabbages affected with worms. These usually can be killed easil} r with arsenicals and, if no other trouble is present, this is a very good, if not the best way. But these cabbages, or your melons, or peas, or rosebushes might be infested with aphids or other sucking insects. In that case under the Bureau's plan, you have to use some of their contact insecticides. If onion thrips, or other thrips, pear thrips for instance, is present, under their plan you have to know how to make and apply nicotine-sulphate solutions; and for fungi other stuff, depending upon whether it is the dormant or growing season. Whereas the use of a torch as shown on last page serves all these manifold purposes far more easily and cheaply, than any other method under the cir- cumstances. If the Bureau of Plant Industry and Entomology do not want to admit this, let them go ahead and show why. On pages 39 to 41 of my Circular No. 151 you find an ac- count of how torches can be constructed largely out ol fittings such as would make up a tower blast torch outfit, that will make it possible to apply heat to insects affecting cereal- and forage crops that require a contact insecticide as does the spring grain aphis or the spinach aphis, detailed information being given on pages 12 and 13 of my Circular No. 144 and elsewhere. The Bureau has no feasible means of control, whereas it is easy to fit up a cart or some light automobile truck with a tank supply- ing gasoline under pressure and feeding any desired number of burners. And this same method at the same time destroys the spores of fungi that come in the way of the burners, thus keep- ing down the fungus diseases affecting these crops. As for freeing the seed grain of fungus spores this can also be secured by the use of a blast, by letting the seed slide slowly down over a wired screen and letting one torch, or, bet'ter, two or more torches from different directions, play upon the seed, thus licking it clean. This does not injure its germinating qual- ities and costs only a small part of the Bureau's plan. There are several important other insects mentioned in the Entomologist's report that call for consideration here. Of new pests there is the Japanese beetle, mentioned on page 5. It is a very general feeder having thus far been recorded from a total of 41 plants. "The insect attacks the ends of sweetcorn and in the movement of green corn to market can be scattered to vari- ous parts." "It appears that the beetle was brought into this country in shipments of Japanese iris during the summer of 1911. ...Some 625 acres are now heavily infested... and it is scatter- ing^' found over some 7000 to 10000 acres, with outlying infes- tations over not less than 25000 acres... The immature stages are passed in the soil where the larvae feed on decaying vege- table matter. The adults appear by midsummer, continuing un- til cool weather in the fall. During hot days the beetles are strong fliers, which adds much to the danger of their spread..." Let us see: 25000 acres is about 39 square miles. A circle with a radius of 3^ 2 miles would about include this area. Thus «.a.'toel«'l™«''K;B««5-i"»'»P 1 «' e ', „,„, during dur of control, it cot As tne reason sown corn, especially** ^ first place no go es en^ of sweeten he e ^"^il, held- why, wlth ^/distributed. ^ should not attacK more generally d istr gtrong fl , ers during n be corn But w h e w . th con a f avon e too P egpe _ mid .summer tiU tan, tassels of ate s ° ■ stage . possible to attrac t he adu ls are ,n the P^ 1 tassels dally sweetcorn, when ^ apart s0 as to piov s> A little such corn so*" ^ decidedly concentrate tt do ture stages ot tne m air-blast torch and while it is an insect feeding normally onl> upon cruciferous plants such as cabbage, turnip and horseradish, the adults congregate largely, especially during hot weather, up- on tassels of sweetcorn and can there be picked off by hand or by the judicious use of a blast, approaching them going back- wards to cover them quickly and effectively with the blast. The Bureau has since then published the statement that the use of a torch- is effective and practical in all stages except the egg, giv- ing no credit to me for priority, this action constituting a de- liberate infringement of copyright. In practice this happens to be of but little consequence, be- cause as a matter of fact I have since then devised a much bet- ter way of control. I showed that, in as much as the immature stages congregate upon the under side of the leaves in colonies and have to be looked after separately involving much time a much better way consists in concentrating the adults, in plain view for action upon them. This can easily be done, -if only care is taken that some cruciferous plants are allowed to bloom and seed at intervals during the growing season. The adults will then congregate upon the seedheads, and poultry given access will pick them off, making the control of this highly injurious in- sect in a way automatic. Plainly sound as this method is, it, with all else I have ever written, according to the U. S. Entomologist, is all wrong. The Bureau of Entomology was created to promote entomological knowledge in its broadest sense. "The so-called grape mealybug has become troublesome in parts of California... This is a difficult insect to handle, '.since it secrets itself under shreds of bark where sprays cannotreach it readily" (Ent. Report 1918, p. 2). Yes. sprays such as the Bu- reau has been using cannot reach it readily, but a blast from a hot air torch can do it easily and cheaply, and it was shown to the Entomologist for many years that this is so in the case of many insects that are similarly concealed. Moreover the grape is subject to several troubles that cannot be nearly as'well han- dled with anything than a torch. A blast from a torch is the 38 very best means to control the grape leaf hopper. During the early part of the season before breeding is well under way it is just under these shreds of bark that the hibernated hopper seeks protection against cold and wet, at which time an application is most effective. Again, even in the drier sections of California the growers have to fight fungus, in this case the kind known as Oidium. The blast of a torch licks off the spores of this fungus and does away with the much more expensive use of sulphur, now relied upon to relieve this trouble. The alfalfa weevil is on page six shown to have extended its range considerably, as usual, and on the other hand is credited with being held in check "materially" by important natural en- emies. I had shown on page 1 1 of my Circular No. 151 from D. A. Bulletin No. 107, p. 57, that, given the chance, poultry is the best possible control measure imported or otherwise, and this would then work also on most other alfalfa insects, includ- ing grasshoppers. Finally on page 9 jot his report the Entomologist speaks a- bout 'sweetpotato weevil eradication and control.' This insect has recently been discussed by the Bureau of Entomology in Farmers' BuUetin No. 1020. Records as there given on page 8 show that the weevil was present near New Orleans, La,, as far back as 1875 and at Manatel, Fla in 1878. It appears, serious damage did not occur to an}' great extent until recent years. This, con- sidering the long time since its original introduction, brings up the^ question of food plants. "..,the insect breeds exclusively on sweet potatoes and closely related plants such as morning glory and bindweed... "(p. 16). The "closely related plants" include the.whole botanical family of Convolvulaceae. Under Figure 5 is shown a Florida beach being overrun with the beach morning glory, to give a little idea of what job it is to carry out the proposed means of control by "keeping down volunteer sweet potatoes and all plants of the morning glory family, cul- tivated or wild" (p. 24) In Figure 6 is shown a "corner of a va- cant lot in southern Florida, showing mat of wild or volunteer sweet potato vines badly infested hy the sweet potato weevil. " There is every reason to believe that the damage to culti- vated sweet potatoes has become pronounced chiefly because the wild food plants have become more and more excessively infest- ed. To eradicate the wild convolvulaccae, granted it were feas- ible, simply means, aside from driving the then there existing weevils to cultivated sweet potatoes, to make that much room for some other plants that may breed insects or fungi affecting some other crop. It will be found to be indefinitely more feasi- ble to keep these con vol villa ceae reasonably free of the weevils when you stop to consider what poultry on a large scale can be reasonably expected to accomplish. This all the more as sweet potato vines are apt to become infested by the mealy bug, and especially as the territory known to be infested by the sweet po- tato weevil is largely infested by the Argentine ant, which, as is well known, fosters these insects. With this ant capable of breeding anywhere in rotting vegetable matter, and preferring, whenever available, the excretions of aphids and coccids to all other foods, you can readily see that the Bureau's plan of using poisoned sweets to control this ant, aside from its many draw- backs cannot begin to touch this pest at large and that control at large of this ant is only possible by a systematic and exten- sive use of poultry, this all the more as poultry in small num- bers cannot hold its own against the ant, since the ant attacks the hatching chicks, which in turn proves that poultry is by na- ture an enemy of the ant, as claimed by me as long as four years ago in my Circular No. 147. pp, 26 to 28. Of course it is very good practice, as recommended by the Bureau, to have, if otherwise practical, pigs eat up the remnants of the sweetpotato crop. Also there is little doubt that arseni- cals early in the season are helpful as claimed, but unless the uncultivated convolvulaceaa are taken care of, there is everyrea- son to believe that with a female liable to lay as many as 300 eggs and four generations a year, there will as the wild food plants become more and more heavily infested, be a constant heavy dispersion from these wild foodplants to cultivated crops, and that if thes wild foodplants are kept reasonably clear by the 40 use of poultry, the cultivated plants are kept easily free by the use of poultry also. "Weevils in all stages may be found in buried roots along the gulf coast during the winter" (p. 5)- As it is the toppart of the root that is infested, poultry can readily get at the weevils by scratching. "The red and yellow colors of this insect on the metallic blue background of the body are undoubtedly of a warn- ing nature." Hence, possibly, poultry might be cautions about attacking the weevils. There appears to be no good reason, however, why they should not readily eat the larvae and pupae. "..The larvae on hatching tunnel through the vines to the roots, the vines die and frequently the roots become badly riddled and filled with excreta, imparting such a bitter taste that even swine will not eat them,.. "(p. 12). Which counts against the use of swine, but poultry is apt to find these larvae to be choice mor- sels. Should poultry not do this work sufficiently satisfactory, or not be available, the use of a hot air blast applied with some such torch as shown on last page will prove of more benefit than anything else chat can be used in the way of artificial control. In that case the operator will find it expedient to carry a stick in the left hand to raise and move the vines a little, exposing the weevil to the direct blast. Incidentally this treatment to that extent keeps down other insects, and is especially of value ^against insects that require a contact insecticide spray, which, with vines, is exceedingly difficult and expensive to use. It can be put down as an axiom that the rate of spread of an insect is controlled by its food- and breeding supply. Thus in the case of the bollweevil official tests have shown that hiber- nated weevils upon touching young cotton without squares mov- ed only 0.35 foot per day; and I was able to show from an offi- cial test, that even after squares had been set: weevils do not move more than necessary to secure squares, in one case an in- festation beginning at about the time of the setting of squares having been confined by August 6 still to a small area, evidently because of the small number of weevils causing the original in- 4i testation in that case. Yet with uninfested squares more or less completely absent, the weevils have been known to readily pass over non-cotton-producing territory 40 miles wide without diffi- culty. Hence while the sweet potato weevil apparently is a weak flyer, there is no reason to expect that in case of insufficient breeding material on wild plants, it would not assiduously hunt for the more suitable cultivated sweetpotato plants that may have been kept protected in a way by the use of arsenicals, and find them even if they should be a good many miles away. Contrary to a statement on page 20 of this Circular Senator Thomas P. Gore and Representative Asbury F. Lever are no longer chairmen of the Congressional Committees on Agriculture, having with the majority in Congress passing to the Rebublicans been superseded by Senator Asle J. Gronna and Representative Gilbert N. Hangen. According to the U. S. Entomologist I am wrong on every point. Naturally he will not want to agree with me when I say the country owes him for his extra work done as humbugolist at least a six month's course of treatment at some first class peni- tentiary to get the humbug bacillus out of his system. In any case, I do not propose to worry my head off. If the Governors of the states chiefly affected, their Officials in charge of Agricul- ture and their State Delegations to Congress do not want to take any interest in the matter, I simply shall bide my time till the public has of the U. S. Entomologist's humbugology had its fill. Under date of December 16, 1918 Secretary of Agriculture Houston handed to the Governors at their meeting at Annapolis, Md., a lot of sugarcoated talk about the beauties of co-operation in matters agricultural, but all efforts in the past to get him to order Chief Howard to discuss the issues involved were futile. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS M* 021 468 204 7