26 
SUB-TIME AID HARVEST. 
Insects. 
BY O. H. ALEXANDER. 
The time is not far distant, when the 
American farmer will be obliged to put 
forth greater efforts to destroy noxious in¬ 
sects than he has hitherto. It is a well- 
known fact that noxious insects are in¬ 
creasing at a rapid rate throughout every 
part of our land. The country is becoming 
so “buggy” that eternal vigilance is the 
price of everything produced from the soil. 
Close observers calculate that more fruits 
of various kinds and varieties are annually 
destroyed or rendered worthless by insects, 
than are gathered and used by man. The 
cotton worm, the wheat midget, the canker 
worms, the potato bugs are each, every 
year increasing in numbers and destruct¬ 
iveness. The curculio, alone, destroys 
millions of dollar’s worth of fruit annually. 
It is safe estimate, all things considered, 
that if noxious insects of all descriptions 
could at once be annihilated throughout 
our country, and mildews of various class¬ 
es be effectually held in check, the cost of 
living to our people would, in a short time, 
be reduced to one-third of its present 
amount. 
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE POTATO. 
There are ten distinct species of insects 
preying upon the potato plant within the 
limits of the United States. Many of 
these ten species are confined within cer¬ 
tain geographical limits. Their habits of 
history differ very widely. Some attack 
the potato, both in the larva state, and in 
the perfect or winged state; others in the 
perfect or winged state alone. Each of 
these ten species has its peculiar insect 
enemies. The names of the ten species are 
as follows: the stalk-borer, the potato- 
stalk weevil, the potato worm, the striped 
blister-beetle, the ash-grey blister-beetle, 
black-bat blister-beetle, margined blister- 
beetle, three-lined leaf beeetle, and Col¬ 
orado potato bug. This latter insect so 
well known, came originally from the 
Rocky Mountains, where it was found some 
fifty years ago, feeding on a wild species 
of potato peculiar to that region. When 
civilization marched up to the Rocky Mount¬ 
ains, and potatoes began to grow in that 
region, this highly improved pest acquired 
the habit of feeding on the cultivated po¬ 
tato. It went from potato-patch to potato- 
patch, moving eastward at the rate of 
about sixty miles a year, and is now firmly 
established all over the country. It took 
them about twelve years to reach the At¬ 
lantic coast. It is said, and I think it is so, 
that each female bug lays about 700 eggs in 
about six days. The eggs hatch into 
larvae, which feed on the foliage of the po¬ 
tato plant about seventeen days, then they 
descend to the ground, where they change 
into pupa at the surface of the earth. The 
perfect beetle appears about ten to four¬ 
teen days after the pupa is formed, begins 
to pair in about seven days, and on the 
fourteenth day begins to deposit her eggs. 
There are three broods of this insect every 
year. It looks now as though this pest 
would always remain with us. 
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