i2=;6 



Rural School Leaflet 



ment. It is interesting to note the manner in which S'jnie of these new 

 pests have originated. It will help to answer the question, " Are insect 



fees increasing? " 



Onl of seventy-three of our worst 

 insect pests, thirty-seven, or over half 

 of them, have been imported from 

 foreign countries. The three worst 

 ])ests now menacing the agrictdtural 

 ^^/W^^- ^HL interests of the United States, namely, 



the g>'psy moth, the brown-tail 

 moth, and the Mexican cotton-boll 

 weevil, are all comparatively recent 

 importations from foreign countries. 

 The gypsy moth was introduced into 

 this country about i86g by a French 

 artist and naturalist who was carrying 

 on some experiments at Medford, 

 Massachusetts, in the production of 

 silk. Some of the moths escaped 

 LarvcB of the gypsy moth ^^^^ j^is cages, and from these the 



pest has gradually increased and spread until it has become a most 

 serious enemy to the agricultural interests of New England. The 

 brown-tail moth was probably introduced about 1890 on roses im- 

 ported from France and Holland by 

 a nursery in Somer\dlle, Massachu- 

 setts. The Mexican cotton-boll weevil 

 came into the United States about 1892 

 from its original feeding grounds in 

 Mexico. The San Jose scale, the widely 

 known pest of fruit trees; the codling 

 moth, the parent of the ever present 

 " worm " in apples; the Hessian fly 

 in wheat; the common cabbage worm; 

 the " green bug," or wheat louse; the 

 angoumois grain moth; the croton bug 

 and the buffalo moth in dwelling houses ; 

 and other common pests, many of them 

 totally unknown to our fathers, may 

 be cited as foreign insects that have Full-grown codling moth larva hurroiving 

 entered this country and have become "' "" '^PP^^ 



our most inveterate insect foes. But we cannot by any means imimle 

 all of our new insect troubles to the pests imported from other countries. 



