SOME DANGEROUS FRUIT INSECTS 



BY CLARENCE M, WEED 



None of the evil effects of the changes which modern civiliza- 

 tion has made upon the earth is more evident to the American 

 farmer than the increased difficulty of saving his crops from the 

 ravages of noxious insects and parasitic fungi. Many of us 

 have heard from our fathers and grandfathers of the apples 

 which once grew in abundance in yards and along highways, 

 strangers alike to the codling moth, maggot, or scab, the 

 luscious peaches free from worms and rot, the plums unmarked 

 by the curculio, and the pears that had yet to learn the secret 

 of becoming dwarfed, gnarly, and cracked ; of the grapes th^t 

 knew not how to rot, and the potatoes which had neither been 

 blighted nor bitten by the Colorado beetle. Now all is changed : 

 every crop has foes that often gather the lion's share of the har- 

 vest. The enemies have come from the north and the south, 

 the east and the west, from Europe and the islands of the sea, 

 and in our own midst they have flocked from the forest to the 

 field, deserting a wild plant for its cultivated congener, or chang- 

 ing their habits to conform to a new environment. 



This increase of noxious insects, however, is the natural 

 result of the changed conditions of things. Among the principal 

 factors tending toward it, may be mentioned : (i) the massing 

 of crops in limited areas ; (2) the facilities for transporting 

 insects long distances by vessels and railways carrying agricuL 

 tural products ; (3) the abandoned farms and orchards that 

 serve as breeding grounds ; and (4) the destruction of forests 

 and the cultivation of prairies. 



Considering each of these factors briefly, we find that the 

 tendency of the first — that of the massing of crops in limited 



