810 



INSECTS 



turists are continually importing plants from the ends of 

 the earth, and oftentimes the plants are accompanied by 

 one or more of their Insect pests. Some comparatively 

 recent introductions of this kind are the sinuate pear- 

 borer, the pear midge, the gypsy moth, the brown-tail 



moth, the horn-fly and the elm leaf -beetle; such standard 

 pests as the Hessian fly, the cabbage butterfly, the cur- 

 rant-worm, the codling-moth (Pig. 1137) came in many 

 years ago. Of the 73 Insects which rank as flrst-class 

 pests, each of them almost annually causing a loss of 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars, over one half have 

 been introduced from foreign countries, mostly from 

 Europe. It is a significant fact that usually these im- 

 ported Insects become much more serious pests here than 

 in their native home; this is doubtless l.->rffelv due to tlie 

 abseni-p..f th.-ir m.tiv.- .-n.-nM..-. t.. m..,-.- fr.v.TMl.U- .-li- 



hOUSrl,.,!,!. Ml ,1,,. ,,,., ,,l,,Hi^,., :,,,-! l,r:MMi,.,-,lh. :,l[.,\ ..nf 



most dangerous scale Insects, are of fun-i^-ii origin. M:\n 

 will continue to encroach on and disturb nature's prim- 

 itive domain, and commercial operations will never cease, 

 nor is there much Impe of ever effictuiilly (lUiirantiuing 

 our shores a^-.'iiri-l fln-i'IiiMi I'...-: In mc, ili.-m srcnis 

 to be no pran i. ,',■. .,. i ^ , ■.. i . . ..r tin' In- 

 sect enemii-s "i ''ii ^-.n . i;l' :,i ; I'l I n . I -■. I I ii • 



best fitted l.v mnnm, .,ini .,li.. i.. -i m - ,^c il \mi1i a 



rieds 



: be the 



rvive and reap the reward of profit- 

 able crops. No part of a plant, from its roots to the 

 fruit it produces, escapes the tiny jaws or the sucking 

 beaks of Insects. 



Hoof-feeding Insects.— Many of the small fniits and 

 vegetables are often seriously injured by Insects feed- 

 ing on the roots. The grape-vine fidia (the grub of a 

 small beetle) and the grape phylloxera plant-louse live 

 on grape roots. Strawberries often succumb to the at- 

 tacks of the grubs of several small beetles known as 

 strawberry-root worms, and to the large white grubs of 

 tlie May beetles. The roots of cabbages, radishes and 



1156. Tomato 



other cruciferous plants are often devoured by hordes 

 of hungry maggots. 



These underground root-feeding Insects are difficult 

 pests to coutrol, like any other unseen foe. Sometimes 

 they can be successfully reached by injecting a little 

 carbon bisulfide into the soil around the base of the 



INSECTS 



plant. The cabbage maggots can be largely prevented 

 by the use of tarred paper pads placed arouud the plants, 

 or by pouring a carbolic acid emulsion at the base of tho 

 infested plants. The strawberry root-feeders are best 

 controlled by frequent cultivation and a short rotation 

 of crops. 



Borers. -Thvsr are the larvae of several different 

 kinds (. I III II li burrow into and feed upon the 



inner I i <l, or the interior pith of the 



larger !■ ■' ' i i 'nauches, and stems or stalks of 

 many li I ; ints. Nearly every kind of fruit 



trees i- I- special kind of borer, as are 



alsc.iiiin I vine and bush-fruits and garden 



crui>s. I III I 111 the most destructive of Insect 



pests. lin MMi :i|.[il.-trL'e borers, the round-headed 

 (Fig. 11."., I au.l 111.- ihil-llfaded species, and tllP pe.ach- 



tree borer (Fig. lljlij t 

 many apple and peach t 

 mies combined. The rei 

 pear-borer seriously th 

 try in infested localitie: 



ISC tlie death of 

 ■il a as all othe 



1157. Burrows of an 

 apple-tree borer. 



The holes at a show 



1158. A beetle borer and its work. 



The larva bores in the youtig wood 

 of raspberry and blackberry 

 caues. causing the swellings seen 

 in the pictiure. 



tins, or "slini hole "borers, usually attack only unthrifty 

 111- sickly Iriiit trees, and a tree once infested by them 

 is usually cinoiiied. Two borers, one the grub of a beetle 

 and the othcf the caterpillar of a moth, sometimes tun- 

 nel down the stems of currants and gooseberries. Rasp- 

 berries and blackberries (Fig. 1158) also suffer from 

 two or three kinds of borers, one working in the root, 

 one in the stem, and a maggot bores down and kills the 

 new shoots. A caterpillar closely allied to the peach- 

 tree borer lives in squash vines, often ruining the crop. 

 The potato-stalk weevil sometimes does much damage 

 in potato fields. 



Sometimes one can prevent borers from getting into 

 a f ntit tree with a paper bandage closely wrapped around 

 the part liable to be attacked, or by the application of 

 some "wash." Most of the washes recommended will 

 prove ineffectual or dangerous to use. Gas-tar has given 

 good results, but some report injury to peach trees from 

 its use; hence one should first experiment witli it on a 

 few trees. No way has been found to keep borers out 

 of the small fruits or garden crops; usually if infested 

 canes, stems or plants are cut out and burned early in 

 the fall or whenever noticed, most of the borers will be 

 killed. When borers once get into fruit trees, the "dig- 



