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 midpe, the gypsy moth, the brown-tail 



true bug. 



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 largely due to the 

 absence of their native enemies, to more favorable cli- 

 matic conditions here, and to a less intense system of agi-i- 

 culture in this country. Most of our worst Insect pests 

 of the fruits, of the garden crops, of the granary, of the 

 household, of the greenhouse, and practically all of our 

 most dangerous scale Insects, are of foreign origin. Man 

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

 itive domain, and commercial operations will never cease, 

 nor is there much hope of ever effectually qu;iruiitiiiing 



our shores against these little f"'~ ; 1 ■ i i' i ' -' • i"^ 



to be no practicable way to stop till ^ i i ' i i l' 

 sect enemies of the horticulturist, i i 

 best fitted by nature, and who I" -t ii- tnin-. it i nhn 

 knowledge of these pests and how i<> ri^lit Ttieiii, will 

 usually be the one to survive and reap the reward of profit- 

 able crops. >Jo part of a plant, from its roots to the 

 fruit it produces, escapes the tiny jaws or the sucking 

 beaks of Insects. 



Boot-feeding Insects.— Many of the small fruits 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 

 the May beetles. The roots of cabbages, radishes and 



^^ 



1156. Tomato 



attacked by parasitic insects. 



other cruciferous plants are often devoured by hordes 

 of hungry maggots. 



These underground root-feeding Insects are difficult 

 pests to control, like any other unseen foe. Sometimes 

 they can be successfully reached by injecting a little 

 carbon bisulfide into the soil aroimd the base of the 



INSECTS 



plant. The cabbage maggots can be largely prevented 

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

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

 infested plants. The strawberry root-feeders are best 

 controUel bj frequent cultivation and a short rotation 



of 



•rop 



Ii I- -These are the larvae of several different 



n 1 t Ii ect which burrow into and feed upon the 



1 I 1 tl olid wood or the interior pith of the 



11 er 1 t tl u ks branches and stems or stalks of 



1 It Itual plants Nearly every kmd of fruit 



tt k 1 1\ Its spe al kind of borer as are 



I uai ot th 11 11 1 ^ 1 1 and b i h fruits and gar len 



re t n tl m t lestr ictn e of In ect 



111 1 tl 1 n Ipl 



1157. Burrows of an 



apple-tree borer. 

 The holps i»t a show 



hcetle emerged. 



1158. A beetle borer and its i 

 The I.irva bores in the yoting wood 

 of raspberry and Itlackl'erry 

 canes, causing the swellings seen 

 in the picture. 



Ill -. "I ■shot-hole "borers, usually attack only unthrifty 



"T -h kly fruit trees, and a tree once infested by them 



is ii-u.dly ilnomed. Two borers, one the grub of a beetle 



ml ill. Mth, r rill- caterpillar of a moth, sometimes tun- 



i I .juvii till st, ins of currants and gooseberries. Rasp- 



im s ,,,„i ihu-kberries (Fig. 1158) also suffer from 



i r till, r kimls of borers, one working in the root, 



M 111 till stLiii, and a maggot bores down and kills the 



1 Hits. A caterpillar closely allied to the peach- 



M r lives in squash vines, often ruininc: the crop. 



I ; I iito-stalk weevil sometimes does much damage 



;ii l".!;.to lields. 



S.mietinies one can prevent borers from getting into 

 a fruit 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 t«-peach trees from 

 its use; hence one should first experiment with 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- 



