The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1697 
The D an^erous Japanese Beetle 
Part I. 
T HE FIELD OF wail—D espite the war waged 
during the past Summer near Riverton, N. J„ 
our latest pest, the green Japanese beetle, has been 
able to escape beyond the barrier established by the 
Bureau of Entomology, and cross the Delaware River 
into Pennsylvania, as well as sections of New Jersey 
which heretofore had been free from infestation. 
The infested area in Pennsylvania extends for sev¬ 
eral miles along the river opposite Riverton, N. ,T.. 
and about one mile inland from the river. In New 
Jersey the main spread has been to the east along 
the river. The whole area of infestation has also 
been increased. This new pest is known among 
entomologists as I’opilla japonica. and belongs to the 
family of Coleoptera. Although this army of ento¬ 
mologists lias met with partial defeat, this war will 
continue until such time as the natural enemies of 
this pest may be brought over from Japan. The 
general in command is John J. Davis of the Bureau 
of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture. 
Ilis hundred-odd soldiers last Summer were largely 
students of entomology from various universities. 
The army had its flame throwers, poison 
spreaders, scouts, patrols, enemy food de¬ 
stroyers and direct combatants. All during 
the Winter before plans were laid for this 
campaign, and the poison squad had begun 
its work for a year past. 
THE FIRST DISCOVERY.—In August. 
101C», Henry B. Weiss, chief nursery inspector 
for the State of New Jersey, discovered a 
strange beetle among nursery stock at River¬ 
ton. N. J., which is across the Delaware 
River from the northern limits of I’hiladel- 
of the poison and then fly to a new one. The poison 
was even mixed with flavors such as lemon extract 
and cinnamon oil. The beetle was attracted by the 
odor, but refused to eat the poison. A search was 
started for the natural enemy of the beetle, but 
none could be found that seemed effective. Investi¬ 
gation showed that the beetle fed on the leaves of 
120 plants. Smartweed seemed the favorite, but all 
shade trees and fruit tret's, apple trees especially, 
were attacked. In a few case green apples were 
eaten and destroyed. 
PROPAGATION.—The beetles lay their eggs in 
grassy rows and the uncultivated growth on road¬ 
sides. The egg. soon after being deposited in the 
sod. hatches into a white worm which is dormant 
during most of the Winter. Early in the Spring the 
grub comes near the surface, and feeds upon roots 
and decayed vegetable matter. Early in the Sum¬ 
mer the grub becomes a pupa, and then emerges as 
the adult beetle. The female beetle lays from 00 to 
100 eggs during the season. 
RAPID SPREAD.—The astonishing spread of 
would kill all grubs within two inches of the surface. 
During the Winter large areas were subjected to 
this treatment. The poison was applied by especially 
designed sprinkler tanks drawn by tractors. This 
method proved very successful, hut the area which 
can be treated in this way is necessarily limited. 
Fence rows and roadsides in certain areas were 
cleared and salt sprinkled to destroy their natural 
feeding grounds, and to keep the beetles away from 
the traveled roads where they might be carried to 
new areas by automobiles. Most of the past Winter 
was spent upon these two means of combat. Besides 
these measures, all of the infested district was 
placed under quarantine, and no produce could be 
shipped until inspected. max watson. 
(Continued Next Week) 
Furnaces for the Country Home 
T HE placing of furnaces in country homes that 
have been built 10 or 20 years is coming about 
swiftly in many sections. The furnace is. of course, 
very convenient and economical, and pro¬ 
vided (he country house is not too large and 
witli too many rooms, it will pay to install a 
furnace. Some houses require rearranging 
when this is done, and often the building of 
new chimneys is necessary. The old chim¬ 
neys may go only to the second floor, and if 
they be run to the basement are hardly large 
enough to accommodate the furnace. Our 
experience has been that furnaces will oper¬ 
ate at their best only when the flue is made 
for the furnace. 
Spraying Bushes with Kerosene Before 
Burning 
phia. Realizing that this beetle, with its 
green head. Drown wings and two small 
white spots on the posterior portion of the 
body, was a newcomer, and therefore worth 
investigating, Mr. Weiss continued his search 
most of the day, and was able to And 12 of 
these beetles in all. These specimens were 
identified as the I’opilla japonica, and had _ 
no doubt been introduced as grubs in soil 
sent with plants from Japan. The area on 
which these dozen were found was only a few acres. 
During 1017 the beetles were studied by experts, and 
found over an area of 600 acres. Not until 191 s 
were active steps taken to combat this stranger 
from Japan which had shown such typical Japanese 
powers of propagation. In 191S the area where 
beetles were found covered 4.000 acres. By the 
Summer of 1919 money had been appropriated to 
cheek the spread of this new pest. When they put 
in their appearance during the latter part of June 
they were found over an area of 25 square miles, 
and at the point where the first dozen were found 
it was possible to catch from 15,(XXI to 20.01X1 in a 
few hours. School children were paid 00 cents a 
quart for dead beetles. In certain fields they would 
arise in swarms when they were disturbed, for they 
are great fliers, and on a bright day are as active 
as bees. 
ATTEMPTS WITH POISON.—Experiments were 
carried on all during the Summer on means of com¬ 
bat. and a careful study made on the destructiveness 
of the beetle. The foliage of weeds and trees were 
sprayed with various arsenical poisons, such as are 
used to destroy other pests, only to find that our 
Japanese visitor wouid eat the leaf up to the edge 
Beetle Work On Apple Leaves 
An ordinary 10-room house, which may be 
65x40 feet on the foundation, should have a 
flue with inside dimensions of 12x12 inches, 
or an actual area of about 160 square inches. 
One of the reasons that furnaces do not 
operate well in country houses is that old 
flues may have an opening either in the base¬ 
ment or second floor, so that there is some 
_ draft at this point which retards combustion 
in the furnace. Where the furnace is re¬ 
quired to bum both wood and coal it is necessary 
to keep up a sharp fire at most times during cold 
weather, and a poor chimney makes it hard to burn 
this combination of fuel. 
A good plan when building a chimney for the 
country house is to line the chimney with tile flue, 
hut these flue linings should he cemented together 
in such a manner that there is no secondary draft 
between the chimney proper and the flue lining. If 
there is. there is always a chance of the flue becom¬ 
ing foul with soot, and a sooty chimney is to a fur¬ 
nace what a deposit of carbon is to the cylinder of 
an engine. The furnace smoke pipe should fit 
directly into the chimney in as short a lead as pos¬ 
sible. and there should he no other twists or turns 
in the chimney. Chimneys and smoke pipes should 
always be kept clean, and this can done by fre¬ 
quently burning a couple of newspapers or throwing 
common table salt into the fire. 
Wayne Co., O. clarence w. baker. 
A good fence prevents many neighborhood offense. 
No man is rich enough to winter a poor cow. 
In canning or preserving apple juice do not boil it. 
Heat to about 150 degrees and hold it there for two 
hours. Then bottle hot and seal. We do not advise 
the use of preservatives. 
Top, Digging Larvae of Japanese Berth, ('enter. 
jS Quarts of Beetles. Larva of Beetle. Enlarged 
this post from 1916 to 1919 left no doubt in the 
minds of Government experts that something drastic 
had to he done to check the infestation from being 
carried to new sections. Coming as it did into a 
new climate especially favorable to its propagation, 
and finding none of its natural enemies, there was 
nothing to stop a maximum increase. An appro¬ 
priation of $100,000 was made by the last Congress 
and $15,000 by the State of New Jersey, and the 
work is under a joint board of control. The extent 
of the area infested in 1919 was such that exter¬ 
mination was considered impossible or at least im¬ 
practical. The council of war decided that the best 
that could be done was to confine the beetles to their 
present area until some of their natural enemies 
could be located and brought over from Japan, or 
until a poison could be found which these beetles 
would eat. 
CONTROL METHODS.—Five methods of attack 
were decided upon. Tests carried out in the field 
where the grubs were thickest brought to light as 
many as 250 to a square yard. It was decided to 
sprinkle these with a solution of cyanide, which 
