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total destruction of, at least, 200 acres will be the result. In fact, it appears to me, 
after a most careful examination of the place, that the greater portion of the 600 
acres is doomed to destruction within a few days, unless nature comes to our relief 
in the meantime. At the time of my visit yesterday the insects were flying over the 
fields already dead in such great swarms that it was rather uncomfortable to walk 
or ride through them. 
The attack, however, does not seem to be confined to that one particular region, 
as a correspondent from a Virginia county (Westmoreland County, Mount Hague), 
writes the Baltimore Sun, that he has lost an entire field, sending specimens, since 
referred to me, which I find to be the samespecies. A careful and close examination 
of the peas in this neighborhood shows that they are infested, though not to the 
Same serious extent. * * * 
I do not know that, under the circumstances, there is any practical remedy for its 
suppression and control, especially when it is spread over such a wide area and in 
such countless numbers as it is in that section to which I have made reference. I 
have ordered the plowing down of 200 acres, now practically destroyed, to prevent 
the unnecessary spread of the insect, which land can afterwards be planted in toma- 
toes, providing the weather conditions warrant it. There is prevailing in southern 
Maryland a very serious drought, thus preventing the planting of any other vege- 
table at this time. 
This condition is certainly unfortunate for the people, mostly colored, of that sec- 
tion, as many of them are dependent upon the pea crop for employment, there being 
on the Susquehanna farm a large cannery, fully equipped with new machinery, 
boxes, and a million tin cans ready to have utilized this crop of peas. 
Briefly stated, this was my first introduction to the new pea pest. 
Further investigation showed that it was widely distributed over the 
State, and that serious injury would surely result to the large acreage 
of peas planted. The growing of peas in Maryland is a very impor- 
tant industry, and reliable conservative authorities place the loss this 
season at $3,000,000, the principal cause being the pea louse. In many 
cases the destruction was complete, varying from mere garden patches 
to hundreds of acres. The final outcome of the crop where I made my 
first observations was fully as disastrous as we predicted. Four-fifths 
of the entire area was a total loss; in other words, 480 acres out of 600 
were literally sucked to death. In another instance only 110 out of 500 
acres belonging to the Louis McMurray Packing Company, of Fred- 
erick County, were considered worth cutting. It is useless for me to 
enumerate in detail all the places I have upon my notes where the 
peas were not cut at all. Suffice it to say that pea growers nearly 
everywhere along the Atlantic coast consider that they have been 
visited by a veritable scourge. The attack has not been confined to 
Maryland alone, but I have records of its occurrence in Delaware, New 
Jersey, New York (Long Island), Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, and recently from Connecticut. 
Talking with some of our largest growers I find the pest was present 
last season in considerable numbers in certain fields, and some laborers 
(colored) even refused to pick peas from the infested areas. Dr. Smith 
informs me that it was present upon late peas on the New Jersey 
experiment station grounds last season also, 
