r.., i
mm
illERE Is an underworld not
Invaded by novpllHt or play
wright. Yet In It occur
strange and often Rubtl dra
mas of survival and destruc
tion. Nor la It a noiseless
underworld. Every evening
after a hot sunset It forms
an orchestra which shrills
out Its prowess and flaunts
Its coming achievement. And In all the world
thPie Is no orchestra so well paid. To be sure
It gets little in the matter of attention, hut In
ways more substantial it Is rewarded hand
somely. For it is permitted to levy toll upon
the rorn and the wheat, the cabbage and the
apple, as they grow. It Is allowed to eat the
profits of the miller and the grain dealer. Cer
tain members of the shrilling tribe go farther
and demand greater concessions in their greed.
Not satisfied with money tribute, they exact
human lives. Their gruesome tracks are made
upon the faces of little children. Thon from
places where poverty forces women and ba
bies into filth and sickness, they take wing
ind they bear their death message Into homes
fair and clean homes where the Inmates can
not concern themselves with life's wretched
ones. And so nature In her Inexorablo clrclo
from which neither the proudest nor the poor
est can escape, herself supplies the link which
brings the miserable home to the fair one.
But reducing It tp a dollars and cents
basis which all of us understand, what would
you say the Insects of this country cost us
each year? Millions of dollars! More in fact
than our entire system of public school edu
cation, from the kindergarten to the unlver
Blty! Moreover whole sections Intended by na
ture for the production of particular crops
often are compelled to abandon them for no
other reason than Insect Infestation. This Is
especially true of horticulture. Myriad, in
deed, are the insect foes that infest vegetables
and fruit. If evr the life of this underworld
Is brought upon the stage as that of the barn
yard has been, it raaj well open with this
plaint of the truck grower:
V The Inserts are busy In clover and gross,
A-hatohln' out sorrer fer my gal-den sass.
They're happily hummln' this giddy re
frain i
The old mule will still be your n.lry-o-plane.
Now the farmer has found himself help
less before this foe which must be fought
with microscopes and laboratory mysteries.
Consequently he has appealed to the man
of science whom everyone despises in the
5ay of prosperity and rushes to consult when
the world is awry.
Let me tell you of what has been accom
plished by one man with a microscope. His
name Is Stephen A. Forbes and he is state
entomologist of Illinois. His chief -work in
this position is to exterminate "economic in
sects," as those which damage the growing
things are called. He Is also head of the
state laboratory of natural history and pro
fessor of entomology In the University of Illi
nois. He has held these offices 25 years,
-which means that he has spent a quarter of
a century fighting the predaceous instincts of
economic Insects, barring an occasional short
lnpse to fight the economical instincts of state
legislatures. Naturally he is on intimate
terms with a vast number of bugs.
For a practical knowledge of an insect, the
ability to recognize it in all Its phases is a
mere beginning. Its dietary muBt be known,
not only what it prefers but what it likes next
best and what it will eat to escape starvation;
how the weather affects its health, its temper,
and its power of multiplying; is it subject to
contagious diseases? If so, how may it be
induced to catch one? Also it is well to know
how Its neighbor bugs regard it. Whether the
sight of It arouses the instinct to protect or
the Instinct to kill. For there are bugs bo
kindly disposed toward other bugs that they
will carry them to their food supply, hatch
their eggs for them, and bring up their off
spring. The sole duties they leave to those
they protect are breathing, eating and multi
plying. First let me tell you about the fight against
the chinch bug. As everyone knows, the chinch
is a devil-devastator whose evil intentions are
backed with energy and resourcefulness. When
it starts to take what it wants from the farm
there is just one thing it leaves the mort
gage. For more than a generation scientists
in all parts of the country directed their intel
ligence against its instinct; and instinct won
the victory. It seemed that reason could not
lathom the cause of the outbreaks nor find a
way to prevent them. In despair the men of
science were for saying as did the old Irish
"woman of the rain that spoiled her potatoes,
"There's no ralson in it. It's just the will of
God!"
And right there it seemed the problem
would have to rest. But an occasional per
sistent brain was unable to accept this solu
tion. Observations went on not only week by
-week but day by day, and often even hour by
iiour. Even so it was a work that proceeded
slowly. The chinch bug was hard to make
rules for. Indeed, it seenied more an excep
tion to rule than the French language. For
instance, scientists nattered themselves that
one thing was proved concerning his chinchahip
viz., the abandonment of wheat culture meant
an end to chinch bug ravages. But farmers
made the sad discovery, quite unintentionally,
you may be sure, not at all for the sake of
rf-nlightenlng the men of science, that the aban
donment of wheat may even increase the
-hlnch devastation. For if they have become
numerous and can find no wheat, they will
accept oats, barley, grass or corn. The aban
donment of wheat to be effective against tho
-hlnch, must take place at the beginning of
an outbreak.
Therefore Dr. Forbes straightened liis mor
larboiird, polished his microscope and prepared
for wholesale slaughter. He was going to
wade deep, not In gore but in bug Juice. The
White Grub in it
four Jtagei ! JuneBeete,
fiao.Grub and Pupa,.
Com corJPH3 rj
femae. 7ivo lYngesi femoiej.
ego ana nupa. or ippi, una
Worker int..
first plan was to pre
sent the chinch with a
contagious disease. It
had been observed that
it was subject to
fungous disease simi
lar to that of the com
mon house fly, which
left the dead covered
with a white mould.
Why not spread it? It
was tried upon the
university fields and
the bugs took it most
obligingly and died
most successfully. Be
fore it could be con
sidered more than an
experiment, however, it
was necessary to try
it on a larger scale.
Consequently letters were sent-among the
farmers, asking for boxes of sound bugs.
These bugs were to be given the disease and
returned with directions for spreading it. The
response was surprisingly immediate. Boxes
of bugs poured into the express offices and
yet more boxes of bugs. Farmers from neigh
boring states heard of the offer and they, too,
went bug hunting. The express companies
worked overtime. The assistants in the ento
mologist's office became mere undertakers for
bugdom. The mouldy bugs were sent out on
their beneficent mission of destruction. Then
the results came In. They varied; they did,
Indeed. Some thought the entire entomolo
gist's office should be fitted out with a golden,
glorious halo as the rescuer of its country;
others alas! thought a fool's cap would fit the
case more exactly.
But although the disease project could not
be called a complete success, means were
found which make It possible 5" raise grain
even in the very worst of the chinch out
breaks. The barrier methods and sprays with
a kerosene emulsion will catch them every
time. Just after harvest the scarcity of food
in the wheat fields arouses In the chinch an
instinct to migrate. On foot It sets out to get
an appetite for corn. This is the time to make
a ridge beween the infested field and the field
the chinch desires to infest. This is done by
plowing a backward furrow which is packed
with a light roller or by band and has a line
of tar poured upon It from a can with a
tubular spout. Post holeB are dug at Intervals
of about twenty feet. By keeping the tar
line fresh his chlnchship cannot cross, but will
follow It to the posthole, into which he speed
ily tumbles. It then is merely pleasant recre
ation for the farmer to travel out and pour
a weak solution of kerosene upon his accu
mulated enemies. Kerosene is an excellent
death dealer for these pests. When they get
into the cornfields the farmers of Illinois sally
forth with an emulsion containing four per
cent, of kerosene and half as much whale oil
soap mixed by five minutes simple beating
with a stick. This Is flirted by hand upon the
corn in the cool of the day when the insects
feed most thoroughly and when there Is less
danger of Injury to the corn. Sometimes a
single application does the work; when the
infestation Is very bad two and even three
may be required.
Now let us talk about corn exclusively fur
a while. With that staple at Its present price
and with the grave gentlemen who produce
statistics as hens produce eggs the louder
the cackling, tho smaller the statistic assur
ing us that it Is on Its lofty perch to stay, It
seems that tho farmer will have to cultivate
automobiles and bad habits as obesity cures
for his bank account. l!ut, bait! Nature pro
vides several. There Is the weather, more ex
asperating and with less regard for a poor
THE MTTLE
WMliE DOGS (, W H
w r (iy W
- i
Corn 3i-3ugj, Grub of same and Corn
Pont jAowing 3iiBug injury.
man's purse than
rich relatives on
a visit, there Is
tho fretful soil
which gets sour
like a colicky ba
by, and there
. are sturdy, hun
gry Insect foes.
Over two hun
dred of these at
tack corn, forty
capable of doing
notable damage.
It Is in discov
ering the way to conquer a pair of these
precious rascals that Dr. ForbeB has made
his most valuable single contribution to sci
ence. They are the corn field ant and the
corn root-aphis or. as It Is better known,
the corn root louse. For' a long time they
were the particular scourge of the corn
grower who supposed that they operated each
on its own account. Through the research of
Dr. Forbes it Is now known that one Is help
less without the other. The resourceful and
industrious ant Is entirely unable to extract
the coveted sap from the corn root, and the
stupid aphis would. If left to Itself, starve In
the very presence of the corn. But the ant
can carry the aphis to the com root and de
posit It thereupon; the aphis can extract the
sap and then exude It, thus passing it on to
the ant. Therefore It was not a problem of
exterminating two foes but of outwitting the
clever little ant. Were it banished, the aphia
would soon disappear. The wretched little
soft-bodied hunk o creation can do nothing
for itself except lay eggs and suck corn sap.
The ant gives It a home m its own burrows,
hatches its eggs for It, carrying them to the
warm surface if they are slow, bearing them
farther into the ground if they threaten to
hatch before its food Bupply is ready. And
this protection extends through the aphis' life.
If, because of plowing or other inadvertence,
the ant finds its charges scattered. It will
cheerfully collect them and reconstruct Its
home if that has been molested also. The ant
has nothing else to do and It Ib as active as
an outraged Puritan conscience. However,
methods of control have been found. The use
of the disk and crop rotation will exterminate
them. Tho root-apbls refuses entirely to oc
cupy ground planted to oats, so this cvop Is
of the greatest Importance In clearing fields of
them. Also by disking two or three times
with a 20-Inch disk in spring, especially on a
sunny day when the ants are likely to have
their charges near the surface, they will be
killed and scattered and their nests bo broken
up that even the enthusiastic little ant cannot
reconstruct the colony.
Another enemy of the corn that Dr. Forbes
-has caught by cultivation Is the bill bug, as
certain beetles are called because of their
long, hard snouts, which they poke Into the
farmer's business to ruin It. This time rtio
cultivation must be with the plow instead of
the disk and In the autumn Instead of spring
and In the fields of grass where the bill bugs
breed. Those biwjs are distinguished by a
belligerency which is only equaled by their
strength of claw. One variety appeared In
Illinois which looked so large to the harassed
fanners that It was christened "elephant bug."
Chickens turned into the fields to feast upon
them lied In flapping, comical (tight, unable to
relievo their terrified souls by a squawk, as
their bil'w were tightly held together by the
encircling claws o
what were meant to
be their banquets.
As for sprays, the
bugs throve upon
them. Dr. Forbes
had his assistants
In the fields before
It was found" that
plowing the Infested
grass In the autumn
would practically do
away with tho pest.
Of all tho foes
which the agricultu
rist must fight, none
presents a more dif
ficult problem than
the white grub. For
one thing, there are
many species. Illi
nois has about thir
ty differing In hab
Its, but all endowed
with an original and
hard working brand
of niftural cussed
ness. They attack
plants at the roots.
and It. Is not at all
uncommon to find
whole acres of grass
where the sod enn
be rolled up like a carpet. By preference they
devastate grass, but If the supply is scant they
are willing to ruin small grain, corn, strawberry
plantations, woodlands, and. indeed, many other
situations. They are especially difficult to com
bat because the life history Is hard to follow
from the first to the last stage. Only a single
specimen has been bred from tho egg to the
beetle and its life cycle occupied three years.
So far tho best remedy has been found to
be in cropping, especially In planting the in
fested ground to clover. Well-known enemies
of the white grub also are the festive porker,
which will dig a toot for a nice fat one, and
crows and crow blackbirds.
Occasionally a farmer notices that a flelcl
which has been brown from a grub ravage be
comes green and alive. He is Inclined to think
It 9l elenr case of the Lord remembering the
righteous; as a matter of fact another insect
has appeared and Is working out another set
of Instincts. This is the Tlphla. a member of
the solitary wasp family. It stings the grub
Into submission and then glues to Its thick hide
an egg which In a few days batches Into a
veritable vampire. It sucks from Its host Its
life Juices, leaving the Bhell to crumble back
to earth.
Trees, both those In natural forests and
those which have been planted, "noble and
helpless products of nature," to quote Dr.
Forbes, are often dragged to a slow and un
sightly death through Insect Infestation. Have
you never late in May or in June noticed upon
shade trees little wads of cotton? Each wad,
you will see, if you look, projects from a brown
cap, which Is the female maple scale. It is a
native Insect parasite of the soft maple. It will
Infest, besides the maple, the linden, box elder,
elm and honey locust. These cotton wads ars
the soft bed In which the careful female lays
her eggs, and each female can be relied upon
to deposit something like 3,000 eggs In her own
particular little wad. Dr. Forbes found after
considerable experiment that a kerosene emul
sion was effective In disposing of these pests.
A 20 per cent, emulsion could be used in winter
If the roots of the trees were protected, and a
10 per cent, in summer. It is made by dissolv
ing one pound of common soap In one gallon
of water by boiling. This Is removed from the
fire and two gallons of kerosene poured In.
With a upray pump the mixture Is then forced
back Into itself for about five minutes, when H
will look like a thick cream, and no longer sepa
rates on standing. Seventeen gallons of water
added to the three gallons thus prepared will
give a 10 per cent, solution. The cost will
bo 4.3 cents a gallon and three or four gallons
will save a large tree from destruction.
Doubtless you have noticed upon the apples
you brought home in a paper ' bag and those
that fell from your own cherished tree a cres
cent mark. This means that a busy little curculio
has had Its beak In your apple before you and
has probably laid an egg at the sign of the
crescent curcullos. A spray compound of 12'4
ounces of acutato of lead and four ounces (t
arsenate of Eoda to fifty gallons of water, If
used three or four times, will catch practically
all these orchard destroyers.
Among the insects Injurious to health the
common housefly takes first rank. Dr. Forbes
has found that 75 per cent. . of the common
house files breed In horse manure. As the reme
dies that will kill tho housefly maggots ore too
dangerous to be used In stables, except boiling
water, which !s hardly practicable, the only
protection stains to bo In screening stables
against flls as we do our houses and in careful
city sanitation.
MOFSC Laws Galore
7171 io Protect
iT aSiliOIlS Dumb Animals
Iy TI1URDR RAYLE IHtUCE
I
NTICKUEITY societies, humane societies and endowed and
A I well-supported institutions for tho benefit of our speechlea
I Animal friend nr nVimulnnf rw1 tliixm hnvn law crn1nn Yflt
in the city of Chicago horses by the hundreds are abused, mu
tilated and cruelly tortured on mir streets.
In the statutes of Illinois, published in tho Humane Ad
vocate, the fortieth annual report of the llum&ne society,
there is a chmee reading that "whoever cuts the solid part
of the tail of any horse in tho operation known on docking,
or by any operation performed for the purpose of shorten
ing tho tail, and who shall cause the same to be dono or assist in
doing such cutting, unless such is proved to be a benefit to the horse,
shall bo punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one
year, or by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100.
"Conocerning Cruelty to Animals" another clause reads, "by carry
ing or driving, or causing to be carried or driven or kept, any animal in
an unnecessarily cruel manner."
Both of these clauses folly cover docked tails, short checkreins and
curb bits, now so universally used.
Little attention has been paid to the cruelties of the curb bit. It
is an instrument of torture belonging to the dark ages. As it lies across
the tongue of the horse it cuts cruelly and brings a horse down to heart
broken submission. The construction on the outside is sufficient to prove
its wicked torture.
These bits are largely used by bus drivers and society people, who
sport smart equipages. In order to look smart their horses have tails
cut so short that they stand erect in the air in an atrocious manner,
shamefully disfiguring the horse. As if this was not enough, the curb bit
is used and an extra stsnp is brought across the nose and then the poof
animal is checked up so short that it is in misery if it moves.
According to the statutes of these societies all
these atrocities could bo stopped, the offenders pun
ished and the fines go into the treasuries of the soci
eties. Will some humano, Christian people interest
themselves in our noble friend, the horse, and join
the Humane society and Anticruclty society in such
numbers that they will force activities among the
membership.
LAW STUDENTSEATING TERM
Porter Summons the English Barris
ters to Meali With a Silver
Mounted Horn.
In the hr;rt of London, between
busy Fleet street and the broad Vim
bnnkment, there Is earrl"d out a cus
toin that has been In vogue for sev
eral couturtes, a Louisville Times'
London lettor says. Kvery night b
twrcn 5 and 6:30 o'clock, one of the
porters of the Temple, tbe I'niveikiliy
of Law, goes round the dull old quad
rangles Mowing tin old-fashioned,
sliver-mounted horn to call the stu
dents for dinner. In each law term
there Is a period culled the eating
ttrm, during which the barristers to
be are compelled to attend at least uix
dinners in Ihi T 'tnplo Hall.
Temple Hall was built in 1572 and
has a magnificent oak roof, richly
carved, and a fin' oak screen. On the
dais at the end of the hall, Shake
speare lit believed to have acted la
'Twelfth Night," early In 1602. The
long table at which the students dine
was the gift of Queen Liizabeth to
the benchers and was made from a
single oak In Windsor Turk. Thero
Is also a small dining table con
Ktructed from the timbers of Drake's
ship, the dolden Hind. At present
about GO students dine here nightly.
Not only has thin miniature univer
sity town memories of tho old crusa
ding tlmep. Its flavor la mingled with
associations of the literary history of
tho eighteenth century, "it la the
most elegant spot io the metropolis,'
wrote Charles Lamb, who was born In
Crown Office How. "What a cheer
ful liberal look hath the portion of
It which, from threo sides, overlooks
th greater garden that goodly pile
'of building strong, albeit of paper
height,' confronting with massy con
trast, the lighter, older, more fan
tastically shrouded one, named Har
court, with the cheerful Crown Of
fice Kow (place of my kindly engen
drure) right opposite the stately
stream which washes the garden foot
with her yat scicly trade poUut
waterB. ... A man wq;i1J give
something to have been born In such
places."
A Conservative Method.
"When you make a speech you
never tell us unything we didn't
know," said the constituent.
"Of course," replied Senator Sor
ghum. "The idea in addressing the
people is to express their own Ideas.
Then tbey give you credit for be
ing a smart man because you agree
with them."
Long
Hours of
Poorly
Paid Dru
Clerk
By M. HOWELL
Iet me tay a word for the man that
works from 7:00 a. m. to 11:00 p. in. every
day in the year the druggist.
I think the druggist is tho greatest
slave to the public of any business man.
Now, of course, you can't bcc why. It is
very easy for a man if he knows his busi
ness to fill a proscription, sell a patent
medicine, face powder, cold cream, toilet
water and perfumes. But where his big
gest trade comes in id the advertising
branch of the newspapers, telephone
checks, water bills, gas and electric light:
bills, money orders, express and postal or
ders and stamps. The druggist has considered the public's needs thor
oughly. He has done much to make things convenient for you all. You
know how easy it is to run over to the drug store to have your baggagei
sent to the station ; how very convenient it is to get a money order writ-i
ten or cashed there; how extremely convenient it is when you have spent1
yonr evening at Home writing a letter to your sweetheart to get a stamp
from the druggist.
You aren't even courteous about it. Hie man who is worn out
must rise from his scat or let his customers wait and drag his aching feet
maybe the whole length of the store to give you a stamp, for which he
receives nothing, not even "Thank you."
Then if ho is a little irritated or gruff you are hurt, but he (mould
not be hurt over the fact that you have given some one else the profits
of your purchase and the druggist must live on the profits of a money
order written at 11 o'clock at night, or, worse still, a one-cent Btamp! .
Aviation
Accidents
on Rapid
Increase
By ANTHONY WAGNER
We frequently read of aviation fatali
ties and recently the list of thoao killed is
increasing at the rate the sport is growing.
I predict that before man can conquer
the air there will be an appalling sacrifice,
not only in the number killed or injured,
but in tho terrible deaths some will suffer.
What could be more dreadful, while
consciousness lasts, than plunging from a
height of hundreds of feet, knowing that
mangling must result?
Count Zeppelin's airship was disabled;
on its initial passenger trip, it being, I
believe, the first to carry regular passen
gers. This serves as a warning that we are decades from a safe commer
cial end of the game, and it will never be half as safe as transportation on
tho earth's surface.
We have witnessed balloon ascensions at amusement grounds and
have seen the aeronaut descend safely in a small parachute which would
weigh but a few pounds.
Why don't the aviators supply their planes or dirigibles with life
preservers in the shape of parachutes.
These, however, would not be of much use over water and flights
over channels seem to be a recent diversion.
Getting
Rid of
Noisy
Rooster
By L SLEPNER
It seems to me keeping and raisingof
thickens should not be allowed inside the
city limits. Doubtless some one will say,
"Oh, you crank!" Call me any old name
you like. That doesn't disturb me in th
least.
I?ul to be awakened alwut four o'clock
every morning by a great big speckled
chanticleer a few feet from my window,
with his cockadoodle-do, which proceeds
every few minutes until tho time when I
myself should be up, is, to say tho least,
anything but enjoyable.
Nature as well as physicians tells ua
we should take plenty of good, refreshing sleep, and to be deprived of
this makes one feel 6ort of disgruntled and unfits one in a measure foa
one's everyday duties, no matter what they are.
The writer lives in one of the most desirable parts of Chicago, and
my neighbors are all right otherwise, but they will keep chickens.
"It's so nice to have a few fresh eggs every day," they will tell you.
True, it is. We used to indulge in such luxuries ourselves when wej
lived in a country town. When we came to Chicago to live the hennerjj
was left behind.
