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HERE Is an underworld not
Invaded by novelist or play
wright. Yet In It occur
strungo and often subtle dra
mas of survival and destruc
tion. Nor Is It a noiseless
underworld. Every evening
after n hot sunset It forms
an orchestra which shrills
out Its prowess and flaunts
Ita coming achievement. And In all the world
there Is no orchestra so well paid. To bo sure
It getc little In the matter of attention , but In
ways moro substantial It is rewarded hand-
comely. For it Is permitted to levy toll upon
the corn nnd 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
und demand greater concessions In their greed.
Not satisfied with money tribute , they exact
human lives. Their gruesome tracks are made
upon the faces of Httlo children. Then from
places where poverty forces women and ba
bies into filth nnd sickness , they take wing
nnd they bear their death message Into homes
fair nnd clean homes where the Inmates can
not concern themselves with life's wretched
ones. And so nature In her Inexorable circle
from which neither the proudest nor the poor
est can escape , herself supplies the link which
brings the miserable homo to the fair one.
But reducing It to 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 ! Moro In fact
than our entlro system of public school edu
cation , from the kindergarten to the univer
sity I
Moreover whole sections Intended by na
ture for the production of particular crops
often nro 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 over the life of this underworld
is brought upon the stage as that of the barn
yard has been , it ma > well open with this
plaint of the truck grower :
. The Insects are busy tn clover nnd srrass.
I A-hatchln' out sorrer fer my garden sass ,
i ) They're happily hummln * this giddy re
frain
The old mule will still be your alry-o-
" plane.
Now the farmer has found himself help
less before this foe which must be fought
with microscopes and laboratory mysteries.
Consequently ho has appealed to the man
lot science whom everyone despises In the
Iday of prosperity and rushea to consult when
the world"is awry.
I-ipt me tell you of what has been accom-
pllshed by one man with a microscope. His
name Is Stephen A. Forbes and ho 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. Ho is also head of the
state laboratory of natural history and pro
fessor of entomology In the University of Illi
nois. Ho has hold these offices 25 years ,
1i which means that he has spent a quarter of
a. century fighting the prednceous Instincts of
economic Insects , barring on occasional short
lapse to fight the economical Instincts of state
legislatures. Naturally ho 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 must bo known ,
not only what it prefers but what it likes next
best nnd what it will eat to escape starvation ;
how the weather affects its health , its temper ,
nnd its power of multiplying ; Is it subject to
contagious diseases ? If so , how may it bo
Induced to catch ono ? Also It is well to know
how its neighbor bugs regard it Whether the
eight of it arouses the instinct to protect or
the Instinct to kill. For there nro bugs so
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 solo duties they leave to these
they protect are breathing , eating and multi
plying.
First lot me tell you about the fight against
the chinch bug. As everyone knows , the chinch
Is a devil-devastator whose evil Intentions are
backed wltb energy and resourcefulness. When
It starts to take what It wants from the farm
there Is Just ono 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
fathom 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 nn occasional per-
elstont brain was unable to accept this colu-
tlon. Observations went on not only week by
week but day by day , and often oven hour by
hour. Even so It was a work that proceeded
fllowly. The chinch bug was hard to make
rules for. Indeed , It seemed moro an excep
tion to rule than the French language. For
Instance , scientists flattered themselves that
ono thing was proved concerning his chlnchshlp
viz. , the abandonment of wheat culture meant
an end to chinch hug ravages. But farmers
made the sad discovery , qulto unintentionally ,
you may be sure , not at all for the sake of
enlightening the men of science , that the aban
donment of wheat may oven Increase the
chinch 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 bo effective against the
chinch , must take place at the beginning of
an outbreak.
Therefore Dr. Forboa straightened his mor
tarboard , polished his microscope and prepared
for wholesale slaughter. Ho was going to
wade deep , not in gore but in bug Juice. The
encircling claws of
what wore meant to
bo their banquets.
As for sprays , the
bugs throve \ipon
them. Dr. Forbes
had his assistants
in the fiolda bcforo
It was found that
plowing the Infested
grass In the autumn
would practically do
away with the post.
Of all the foes
which the agricultu
rist must light , none
presents a more dif
ficult problem than
the whlto grub. For
ono thing , there nro
many species. Illi
nois has about thir
Cow GooT/lfW * ty differing in hab
dTTirtD/irtT drr : W/ngecl its , but all endowed
fema/ee Tivo Wing/ess femafo , with an original and
Egg and Pupa of dphh , and hard working brand
Worker Ant ; of natural cussed-
ness. They attack
first plan was to present - plnntH at the roota ,
sent the chinch with a and it is not at all
contagious disease. It Corn Bf//-Qug3f Grub of same and Corn uncommon to find
had been observed that . whole acres of grass
Want J/iow/ng Qi/J-0ug injury.
It was subject to a where the sod can
ftlnfrmia disease simi .
lar to that of the com man's purse than
mon house fly , which rich relatives on
left the dead covered n visit , there Is
with a white mould. the fretful soil
Why not spread it ? It which gets sour
was tried upon the like a colicky ba
university fields and by , nnd there
the bugs took It most nro sturdy , hun
obligingly and died gry Insect foes.
most successfully. Before Over two hun
dred of these attack
fore It could bo con-
sldered more than an Grub in . . - tack corn , forty
experiment , however.lt four 3fayes : June Beet/e , capable of doing
was necessary to try y. Grub one/ notable damage.
It on a larger scale. It Is In dlscov-
Consequently letters were Bent among the
farmers , asking for boxes of sound bugs.
These bugs were to bo 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 moro 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 entlro entomolo
gist's office should bo fitted out with a golden ,
glbrlous halo as the rescuer of Its country ;
others alas ! thought a fool's cap would fit the
case moro exactly.
But although the disease project could not
bo called a complete success , means were
found which make It possible to" 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 sots out to got
an appetite for corn. This is the tlmo to make ,
a rldgo boween 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 hand and has a line
of tar poured upon it from a can with a
tubular spout. Post holes are dug at Intervals
of about twenty feet. By keeping the tar
line fresh his chlnchshlp cannot cross , but will
follow It to the pesthole , Into which ho 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 nn emulsion containing four per
cent , of kerosene nnd 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 oven three
may be required.
Now let us talk about corn exclusively for
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 , the smaller the statistic assur
ing us that it is on Its lofty perch to stay , it
seems that the farmer will have to cultivate
automobiles and bad habits as obesity cures
for his bank account. But , halt ! Nature pro
vides several. There Is the weather , moro ex
asperating and with less regard for a poor
erlng the way to conquer a pair of thcso
precious rascals that Dr. Forbes 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 tlmo 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 , lt is now known that ono Is help
less without tho-other. The resourceful and
industrious ant p entirely unable to extract1 ;
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 corn 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 aphis
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 homo In Its own burrows ,
hatches Its cgga for It , carrying them to the
warm surface If they nro slow , bearing them
farther Into the ground If they threaten to
hatch before Its food supply Is ready. And
this protection extends through the aphis' life.
If , because of plowing or other Inadvertence ,
the nnt finds Us charges scattered , It will
cheerfully collect them and reconstruct Its
homo If that has been molested also. The ant
has nothing clso to do nnd It is as active as
an outraged Puritan conscience. However ,
methods of control have been found. The UHO
of the disk and crop rotation will exterminate
them. The root-aphis refuses entirely to oc
cupy ground planted to oats , so this crop la
of the greatest Importance In clearing fields of
thorn. Also by disking two or throe tlmea
with a 20-Inch disk lu , prlng , especially on a
sunny day when the ants are likely to have
their charges near the surface , they will bo
killed and scattered and their nests so broken
up that oven the enthusiastic Httlo 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 tlmo the
cultivation must bo 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. Thcso bugs are distinguished by a
belligerency which Is only equaled by their
strength of claw. Ono variety appeared In
Illinois which looked so largo to the harassed
farmers that It was christened "elephant bug. "
Chickens turned into the fields to feast upon
them fled In flapping , comical flight , unable to
relieve their terrified souls by a squawk , as
their bills were tightly held together by the
be rolled up like a carpet By preference they
devastate grass , but It the supply Is ncant , they
are willing to ruin small grain , corn , strawberry
and Indeed , many other
plantations , woodlands , ,
to combat
difficult
especially
situations. They are
bat because the llfo history Is hard to follow
from the first to the last stage. Only n Blnglo
specimen has boon bred from the egg to the
beetle nnd its llfo cycle occupied three years.
So far the best remedy has been found to
bo In cropping , especially In planting the In-
fpBtcd ground to clover. Well-known enemies
of the whlto grub also are the fustlvo porker ,
which will dig a foot for a nlco fat ono , nnd
crows and crow 'blackbirds.
Occasionally a farmer notices that a field
which has been brown from a grub ravage becomes -
comes green and nllvo. Ho Is Inclined to think
It a clear case of the Lord remembering the
righteous ; as a matter of fact nnotljor Insect
has appeared nnd Is working out another Bet
of Instincts. This Is the Tlphla , n member of
the solitary wasp family. It stings the grub
into submission and then glues to Its thick hldo
un egg which In a few days hatches Into a
veritable vampire. It sucks from Its host Ita
k llfo juices , leaving the shell to crumble back
to earth.
Trees , both those In natural forests and
those which have been planted , "noblo and
helpless products of nature , " to quote Dr.
Forbes , nro often dragged to a slow and un
sightly death through Insect Infestation. Have
you never late In May or In Juno noticed upon
shade trees Httlo wads of cotton ? Each wad ,
you will see , If you look , projects from a brown
cap , which Is the female maple scale. It Is n
native Insect paraslto of the soft maplo. It will
infest , besides the maple , the linden , box elder ,
elm and honey locust. Thcso cotton wads are
the soft bed In which the careful female lays
her eggs , and each female can bo rolled upon
to deposit something like 3,000 eggs In her own
particular Httlo wad. Dr. Forbes found after
considerable experiment that a kerosene omul *
Blon was effective In disposing of these pests.
A 20 per cent , emulsion could bo used In winter
If the roots of the trees were protected , and a
10 pur cent In summer. It Is made by dissolv
ing ono pound of common soap In ono gallon
o [ water by boiling. This Is removed from the
fire and two gallonn of kerosene poured In
With n eprny pump the mixture Is then forced
back Into Itself for about live minutes , when il
will look Ilka a thick cream , and no longer sepa
rates on standing. Seventeen gallons of water
added to the throe gallons thus prepared \vil
give a 10 per cent solution. The cost wll
bo1.3 cents a gallon nnd three or four gallons
will save a large tree from destruction.
Doubtless you have noticed upon the apples
you brought homo In a paper bag and those
that fell from your own cherished tree a crescent
cent mark. This means that a busy Httlo curcullo
1ms 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
ounces of acetate of lead and four ounces 01
nrsennto of toda to fifty gallons of water , 1 :
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
housoflles breed in horse manure. Aa the reme
dies that will kill the housefly maggots are too
dangerous to bo used In stables , except boiling
water , which is hardly practicable , the only
protection scorns to bo In screening stables
against flics as we do our houses and In curofu
city sanitation.
TETT YEAUS Or BUFFEIUNO.
nentorcd nt Jn i to Verted Health
lir Donu'n Klilner i'UU.
Mra. Narclssa Waggoner , Carter
Ylllo , 111. , sayaj "For over ton ycar
I suffered terribly
with backaches , head *
aches , nervous and
dizzy spells. Tha
kidney secretions !
were unnatural nnd
gave mo great trou
ble. Ono day I sud
denly fell to thu
floor , where 1 lay fol
n long tlmo uncon
scious. Three dee
tors who treated mo dlAgnoscd mj
case ns paralysis and Bald they could
do nothing moro for mo. As n last
resort , I began using Doan'a Kidney
Pills And was permanently cured. 3
am stronger than before in years. "
Remember the name Dean's.
For said by nil dealers. GO cents q
box. Fostcr-Mllburn Co. , Buffaloj
N. Y.
THE DOCTOR'S IDEA.
- r
Invalid Doctor , I must positive ! *
Insist upon knowing the worst.
\VIso-Well , I guess my bill wW
bo about $85.
Doll House Library.
A search for a chlld'n short story ,
"Tho Grlffln nnd the Minor Canon , "
In u volume nil by Ituolf revealed to o
persistent city shopper the thought
and money that are expended on the
furnishing of dolls' houacs. Book
stores hnd not the stqry In a slnglo
volume , but in a department store
ono young woman Interviewed had ro *
contly been transferred from the toy
department nnd was able to contribute
a helpful hint.
"I think , " she said , "you can nnd U
In ono of the dolls' houses dowiv
stairs. "
Curiosity had by that time bccoma
a sauce to literature , BO the shopper
hurried downstairs to inspect the doU
houses. Throe of the most oxpcnslva
houses contained libraries consisting
of n Bcoro of diminutive books and
each book contained a child's story
complete. Ono of them was "Th
Qrlflln and the Minor Canon. "
A Bcrnhardt Trick.
Mmo. Sarah Bernhardt , who IB sup
posed to bo something of an artist as
well na an actress , was recently call
ed upon in ono of her marvelous croo *
tlonn to enact the role of a sculptor ,
and to model a certain bust in view of
the audience. This fairly electrified
the critics , but when going Into rhap
sodies over the technical skill In ban-
dllng the clay which Mmo. Dornhardt
exhibited they showed that they know
llttjo of the artistic tricks of actors
and actresses ; as a matter of fact , sha
does nothing of the kind. The bust
Is modeled and baked , and over It la
placed damp clay of the sumo color.
This the talented actress merely pull *
off , exposing the beautifully modeled
Ucad underneath.
A Fitting Design.
"I want an ostlmato on 10,000 letter
heads , " said the professional-looking
man with the silk hat.
"Any special design ? " asked the
engraver.
"Yes , elr , " replied the caller. "In
the upper left-hand corner I want n
catchy cut of Patrick Henry making
his memorable speech , and in distinct
letters , under the cut , his soul-Inspir
ing words , 'Glvo mo liberty or giva
mo death. ' You see , " ho added , handIng -
Ing a card to the engraver , "I'm a dl-
vorco lawyer , and want something flt >
ting. " Llpplncott's.
Summer
Comfort
There's solid satisfac
tion and delightful re
freshment in a glass of
Served with Sugar and
a little Lemon.
Postum contains the
natural food elements of
field grains and is really
a food drink that relieves
fatigue and quenches the
thirst.
Pure , Wholesome , Delicious
"There's a Reason"
POSTUM CEKEAL CO. ,
Battle Ortek , Mich.
